High marks for Danica Patrick in stock car debut
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Danica Patrick changed the question.
After her sixth-place finish in Saturday’s ARCA race at Daytona—and the way she accomplished it—no longer should we ask, “What’s Danica Patrick doing in a stock car?”
More appropriate might be: “Why is Patrick wasting her time in the IndyCar Series?”
Admittedly, it’s one race. Admittedly, she was driving one of Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s old No. 8 Sprint Cup cars. Admittedly, she had one of NASCAR’s most wily crew chiefs in her corner, namely former Earnhardt pit boss Tony Eury Jr.
Don’t forget, however, that Patrick rallied to finish sixth without benefit of any significant practice time in the draft, a critical deficiency when it comes to restrictor-plate racing. Yes, she practiced drafting during an ARCA test in December, but that was with a maximum of five or six cars, not a full field of 43.
Thursday’s ARCA practice at Daytona was limited to single-car runs in preparation for Friday morning’s qualifying session. Friday afternoon’s practice was rained out. As a consequence, Patrick started Saturday’s race with little or no idea how her No. 7 Chevrolet would behave in dirty air, surrounded by other drivers trying to make names for themselves on the biggest stage ARCA has ever occupied.
And don’t forget that Patrick went about her business as the focus of a maelstrom of attention that bordered on manic. Under the circumstances, the diminutive driver weathered the storm with consummate grace.
“Once there’s 20 interviews, what’s the difference if there’s 30?” Patrick asked Friday afternoon. “I have a lot of people helping me, making sure that I am where I need to be and that I have time to drive the car and do what I need to do there. I’ve had plenty of time to chill out in the truck and watch TV with the guys.”
Patrick’s viewing included video of the 2009 ARCA race at Daytona, and she proved a quick study. By her own admission, she was “hanging out” in the early stages of Saturday’s 80-lap Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200, but the real test came when she faced major adversity for the first time in a stock car.
On Lap 54, Patrick was hugging the yellow line as she exited Turn 4 when Nelson Piquet Jr. pinched her toward the apron. Already conversant with the no-passing-below-the-yellow-line rule, Patrick held her position, and a bump from Piquet sent her sliding across the infield grass and spinning back up onto the asphalt—all without making contact with the outside retaining wall.
Forced to the pits to repair minor damage and change tires, Patrick restarted 24th on Lap 57, but another quick caution kept her in the back until a restart on Lap 64. Patrick was 23rd at that point but charged fearlessly through the field to run as high as fifth before the finish, getting the most out of a powerful car.
Patrick was smiling broadly as she climbed from the car. Clearly, she was jazzed by the experience. After offering a rambling, effusive, stream-of-conscious account of the race and answering questions from a crush of reporters around her transporter, she posted one short message on her twitter account.
“Did you see all that craziness?!” Patrick wrote. “It was so much fun!”
Saturday’s ARCA race was the warm-up act for the Budweiser Shootout, the kickoff for the Sprint Cup season, won by Kevin Harvick. Aside from some confusion over the rules of engagement, NASCAR couldn’t have asked for a better appetizer for next Sunday’s Daytona 500.
But on Saturday, the undercard trumped the main event, as Patrick continued to dominate the headlines—and based on her gutsy performance, deservedly so.
On Monday afternoon, Patrick will reveal whether she’ll compete in next Saturday’s Drive4COPD 300 Nationwide Series race at Daytona, a distinct step up in class.
Based on her performance in the ARCA event, she’ll likely be taking pace laps with the Nationwide regulars and double-duty Cup drivers come 1:15 p.m. Saturday.
Let’s hope so.
Patrick finishes sixth in stock car debut
Her well anticipated stock car debut finally happened on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway; however it didn’t necessarily go without a hitch. Danica Patrick’s first race in a stock car went quite smoothly throughout the first half of the race, mostly because of the lack of green flag racing. However, it began to heat up halfway through the 80-lap event when Patrick took her first spin through the grass, causing only minimal damage.
From there, she was a girl on a mission, crawling her way from last to her final finishing position of sixth place making her the best finishing female since Shawna Robinson in 1999 at Daytona.
Patrick led no laps during the event, which was won by Bobby Gerhart, but was as high as fifth during the Lucas Oil 200.
The next decision on Patrick’s plate is whether or not to move her NASCAR debut up one weekend and start at Daytona next week. Currently, her scheduled debut is slated for Auto Club Speedway in two weeks. However, whether or not she runs in next week’s Nationwide Series race at Daytona was to be based on tonight’s Arca Series race.
Patrick ran the race in a No. 7 GoDaddy.com sponsored JR Motorsports Chevrolet in tonight’s race.
Hot Wheels to sponsor Patrick’s Michigan race
Hot Wheels and JR Motorsports announced today during a press conference at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday that Danica Patrick’s No. 7 Chevrolet will be sponsored by Hot Wheels at Michigan this year. Hot Wheels VP of Marketing Simon Waldron said during that Patrick also designed a car that Hot Wheels will add into their product line, and it will be called the “Danicar.”
“I had some ideas going into the design process but then I also just kind of let my mind wander a little while I was there,” Patrick said about the design process of her Hot Wheel car. “I had a great artist there sketching my ideas to make it look even better. My first idea, they brought out a whole big plastic case of all the different wheels and so I looked at them all then I thought ‘Well, let’s do six,’ and then they increased in size, of course ‘cause more grip and given my situation with running IndyCar and NASCAR I kind of made it look more like an IndyCar in the front with the cockpit and more like NASCAR in the back with the wheels covered.”
The car, which will be released by Hot Wheels, will also allow for buyers, targeted towards, to pick their own number for the car. The car is expected to be released this September and will be included in the main Hot Wheels range.
“It’s really great to have Hot Wheels back in NASCAR,” Kelly Earnhardt Elledge, vice president of JR Motorsports, said during the press conference. “(They are a) very recognized lifestyle brand, much like JR Motorsports. (We’re) happy to have them on board and to make their re-entry into the sport with Danica and the No. 7 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. It’s going to be fun to see what they have in store for the year and I think we’re going to see some different designs for the GoDaddy Chevrolet which should be fun.”
Patrick 12th in ARCA qualifying; Buescher wins pole
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Unlike the relentless wave of notoriety that escorted her into stock car racing, Danica Patrick’s visit to the top of the scoring pylon Friday at Daytona International Speedway was all too fleeting.
The 10th driver to make a qualifying run for Saturday’s Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 ARCA race at the 2.5-mile track, Patrick claimed the provisional pole at 179.788 mph. Before she finished her interview on pit road, however, Penske Development driver Dakoda Armstrong had knocked Patrick from the top spot.
After all 47 drivers had taken their respective shots, Patrick held the 12th starting position for her much-heralded stock car racing debut, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday. Defending race winner James Buescher will start from the pole after a lap at 181.543 mph.
Patrick ran the top of the track during the first of her two laps. For the lap that counted — the second — she tried to hug the yellow line at the bottom of the speedway.
“It felt good, and I felt like I could really keep it down on the yellow line,” Patrick said after climbing from the car and debriefing with crew chief Tony Eury Jr. “I lost it just a bit — I was up just a little bit in (Turns) 3 and 4, but I think that, overall, we picked the right gear, and we made the car better in practice, and we actually did work on the car yesterday in practice — it wasn’t right.
“Tony’s done a great job. They told me what to do. It’s pretty straightforward. You run it on the top, drop it down low and keep it on the line. I’m sure it’ll be much harder at most other tracks.”
Patrick said her comfort level will determine how she’ll run the race — whether she’ll drop back at the start and feel out the car in her first competitive run.
“My tendency as a driver is to make sure that I learn and finish the race and get the most out of my car, and if I’m not sure where that limit is, I’m not going to overstep my bounds,” Patrick said. “I make no progress if I go out there and lose it on the first lap. If I feel comfortable, I’m sure I’ll stay right where I’m at, and if I don’t feel comfortable, I’ll have to work my way back up.”
To Eury, seeing Patrick on the pole, albeit briefly, was gratifying.
“It was pretty cool to see her get up there, but I’d rather see her sitting up there when we win the race on Saturday,” Eury said. “We’ll just have to see how things play out.”
Eury said Patrick’s comfort level also will determine whether she’ll compete in next Saturday’s Drive4COPD 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
“Just if she’s comfortable — that’s the bottom line,” Eury said. “It’s not us out there that’s got to drive. I just want her to feel comfortable with what she’s doing, so she can react to things, so that she knows how the draft will work.
“If she feels comfortable, then I’d be more than happy to come down here with her, but I’d rather for it to be her choice.”
Though Saturday’s race will set TV viewership records for an ARCA event — thanks to Patrick’s presence in the field — Buescher doesn’t plan to give Patrick — one of six women in the field — special treatment.
“She’s just another driver in the field and that’s how you have to look at it,” Buescher said. “Hopefully everyone in our race stays smart and no one over-drives, trying to impress the large audience we’ll have for this race.”
Danica Patrick to enter 12-13 events in 2010
Nationwide Series part-timer Danica Patrick will race in 12-13 races this season, according to a release from JR Motorsports on Thursday. The season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 13 is still to be determined and whether or not she will drive in the event will depend on her performance in the ARCA ReMax Series race earlier that weekend. Regardless, the No. 7 Chevrolet will be entered into the Camping World 300.
“We want to give Danica the best opportunity to compete at Daytona, and that includes making sure she is 100 percent comfortable in that driver’s seat,” JR Motorsports co-owner and general manager Kelley Earnhardt Elledge said. “The Nationwide race there is perhaps the most competitive race of the year. Once the ARCA race is complete, we will get with Danica and make a decision based on the best interests of her, the team, and our sponsor Go Daddy. I’m extremely pleased with the working relationship between Danica and (crew chief) Tony Eury Jr. They are communicating well and working extremely hard in preparing for this season.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will not be in the No. 7 car at Daytona as he will be driving the No. 88 Chevrolet instead of Kelly Bires, who won’t start his full season opportunity until the following race at Auto Club Speedway. According to the release, Bires could be the driver to take Patrick’s place in the Camping World 300.
If she doesn’t race in the Daytona Nationwide Series event, then she will make her NASCAR debut on Feb. 20 at Auto Club Speedway.
A four month break will occur after the Feb. 27 event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway to allow her to focus on her IndyCar Series schedule with Andretti Autosport. The other ten races will then occur at Chicagoland Speedway (July 9), Michigan International Speedway (Aug. 14), Dover International Speedway (Sept. 25), Auto Club Speedway (Oct. 9), Charlotte Motor Speedway (Oct. 15), Gateway International Raceway (Oct. 23), Texas Motor Speedway (Nov. 6), Phoenix International Raceway (Nov. 13), and Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 20).
“I’m thrilled to announce our 2010 Nationwide Series schedule,” Patrick said. “Like I’ve said before, we just want to be smart and calculative about this process. The tracks we’ve selected not only compliment the IndyCar schedule, but will give me quality seat time at a variety of facilities.”
Patrick’s IndyCar Series sponsor and longtime JR Motorsports partner, GoDaddy.com, will sponsor her No. 7 Chevrolet in all but two events on her 12 race schedule.
Notebook: No contract? Knaus isn’t concerned
CONCORD, N.C. — Jimmie Johnson re-upped with Hendrick Motorsports last year. Crew chief Chad Knaus, an equally important part of the team that has won four straight Cup championships, hasn’t extended his current contract beyond 2010.
Knaus, however, is convinced his deal will get done in due time.
“The contract deal will get done at some point,” Knaus said. “I’m signed up through the end of 2010, and it’s not on the forefront of my mind right now. What’s important to me right now is just getting the cars built, getting to Daytona and getting the season back in place. Once the contract negotiations start, then we’ll worry about that.”
Johnson and Knaus are viewed as an inseparable combination, but Knaus said he could envision working with another driver — just not any time soon.
“We really enjoy working with each other — and why change it?” Knaus said. “Will I at some point work with another driver? Yeah — I mean, more than likely. Will he work with another crew chief? Yeah, more than likely. Let’s be honest. He’s younger than I am. He’s probably going to drive longer than I want to be a crew chief.
“Am I in a managerial role somewhere else doing something, or am I in a managerial role here working with these other teams? At some point, yeah, I’ll be working with other people. Do I hope that he’s always a part of my relationship with Hendrick Motorsports? One hundred percent. I’d love for that to be the case.
“There are no guarantees in life. You don’t know what’s going to happen years down the road. I feel like I’ve got four to six more years that I can do this, and then that’s it. Then I’ve got to go and do something else. Now, hopefully, that go-and-do-something else is here.”
NATIONWIDE RUN AT DAYTONA UNLIKELY FOR PATRICK
Danica Patrick will make her competitive stock car racing debut Feb. 6 in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 ARCA Re/Max event at Daytona International Speedway. Lest you think success in that race will lead to a start in the Camping World 300 Nationwide Series race a week later — an event heavily populated with Cup drivers — car owner Kelley Earnhardt adds a cautionary note.
“It’s going to be her decision after the ARCA race,” Earnhardt said Wednesday after a Nationwide announcement on the media tour. “The thing that we’ve all discussed is that the Nationwide Daytona race is basically a Cup race, and with someone like her, that may not be the best situation to put her in. …
“My expectations for her are to go out and run in the top 20. We provide her a competitive car, she’s a capable driver, she’s done well at the test — the key will be her being around 42 other cars and how she’ll handle that, so we’ll see.”
SHORT STROKES
Darlington Raceway will replace the Milwaukee Mile on the 2010 Camping Wor1d Truck Series schedule, NASCAR announced Wednesday. The Too Tough to Tame 200 will be run Aug. 14 at the 1.366-mile speedway, which hasn’t hosted a truck series event since 2004. … Aaron’s, which sponsors the No. 00 Toyota driven by David Reutimann in the Cup Series, has added six points races and the Sprint All-Star Race to its commitment to Michael Waltrip Racing, which fields Reutimann’s Camry. All told, Aaron’s will serve as primary sponsor for 24 races.
Patrick completes first day of stock car drafting
NASCAR’s newest female driver completed her first day of on-track drafting practice in a stock car Saturday at Daytona International Speedway for the ARCA Re/Max Series test. Danica Patrick, who will race in a little more than a dozen races in the upcoming Nationwide Series season as well as a few sporadic events in the ARCA Series, has spent the last two days getting acquainted with a JR Motorsports stock car as she prepares for a busy racing schedule that will include events in both open wheel and stock car racing leagues next year.
During what was the second test day of the weekend, Patrick clocked in at 179.183 mph in the morning session, good for 25th place on the speed charts. She ended the day’s afternoon session 19th on the speed chart with a top speed of 181.554 mph. Patrick closed out the day’s worth of testing 20th on the board with her fastest lap being 181.375 mph.
At the end of the day, Patrick said there was some surprises and some major differences involved with the art of drafting on superspeedways.
“I guess you can run a lot closer than what I thought,” Patrick said. “Two car lengths up above from my spotter is like on him for me. That’s on him, you are on him in IndyCar. It was a little bit more challenging to get that last car length or get up on him. We even got to the point where they’re like, ‘give him a little bump down the straight.’ I was trying but I couldn’t catch him. It’s getting into that mode that you need to be right on him to take advantage of the situation and stay with the draft.”
While only two days into a stock car career that will begin at the season-open ARCA Series event at Daytona in February, Patrick says she is beginning to become more comfortable with the car and is excited to return to the Florida track on Sunday to finish the three-day test.
“It was a lot of fun,” Patrick said. “It’s different than driving the cars that I drive. You can run so much closer and you can cross over each other. But you need to run really close so like there’s no room for error if someone makes a mistake. That’s going to be the challenge. But it was a productive day. I learned a lot and I feel really comfortable in the car. Tomorrow (Sunday) is going to be even better.”
Patrick’s day consisted of several 10-lap runs with 40 consecutive laps being her largest run of the day. Crew chief Tony Eury Jr. said that he is happy with the progress Patrick has made in the short period she has had in the cars so far. According Eury Jr., after another day of on-track drafting, the team—and driver—will be ready to go.
“She’s doing really good,” Eury Jr. said. “Drafting is not something that you learn overnight. She has done really good learning how to stay in a pack, learning what the car does in different aero situations. We’re pretty pleased. I think I need a little more speed in the car just in single car runs. Overall, it has been a good successful day. We’ll come back here tomorrow and let her draft a little bit more and I think we will be game on.”
Patrick wasn’t the only female driver on the track today. In fact, a total of ten girls strapped in for a few laps around the Daytona International Speedway on Saturday. Besides Patrick, Amber and Angela Cope, Alli Owens, Ashley Parlett, Jennifer Jo Cobb, Jill Georg, Leilani Munter, Michelle Theriault and Milka Duno are the other nine female drivers in Daytona this weekend.
“They are 10 girls out here now so it’s just not me anymore,” Owens said. “There are a lot of us out here. I’m looking forward to seeing how they do compared to us. I know we have really good equipment. It will be nice to see them up there on the board.
“It’s a really good sign for the sport. I try not to get caught up in the female aspect of it. To me when they put their helmet on, they are nine other drivers out there to beat.”
Mikey Kile, driver of the No. 25 Venturini Motorsports Toyota, was the fastest driver throughout the three sessions today with a top speed of 183.061 mph.
Danica Patrick Set To Make Nationwide Debut at Auto Club Speedway
Hollywood California is known to throw some of the biggest bashes when it comes to announcing the next up and coming star whether it be music, television, or sports.
The glamor and glitz of this popular hot-spot, is known to spread out as far as 30 miles to the east into the neighboring cities.
Auto Club Speedway with its backdrop of the San Bernardino mountains, by all means is no stranger to hosting NASCAR’s biggest stars even though they may not walk the red carpet of the Academy Awards, but none the less they are some of motorsports biggest stars.
Twice a year the stars of NASCAR make their way out to a city that was made famous by drivers such as Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Rusty Wallace, Jeremy Mayfield, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Elliott Sadler, Carl Edwards, and Greg Biffle who are all past winners.
On February 20, 2010 Auto Club Speedway will once again play host to the media frenzy, that will follow NASCAR’s newest driver into the Nationwide series.
Danica Patrick announced that she will make her Nationwide debut in the No. 7 Go Daddy sponsored Chevrolet for JR Motorsports, and team owners Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick in the Stater Bros. 300.
This will be Patrick’s second visit to the 2 mile D shaped oval; her first was back in 2005 where as a rookie in the IRL she finished 18th.
Patrick, who is expected to run 10 to 12 races this season, will use an ARCA Series test at Daytona International Speedway on December 18-20 to get approval by NASCAR for her Nationwide debut in February.
IMG looks to double down with Danica and Dale Jr.
Danica Patrick’s representatives at IMG soon will be talking to the brands endorsed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. as both camps seek opportunities to combine the star power of the two drivers.
Even though Patrick’s move to NASCAR has been in the works since the summer, she just last week signed to drive a dozen or so Nationwide Series races for Earnhardt’s JR Motorsports, a team he co-owns with Rick Hendrick. She’ll continue to drive a full Izod IndyCar Series schedule for Andretti Autosport.
“Now that there’s something real to talk about, we can sit with (Earnhardt’s) partners to find the right opportunities for both of them,” said Mark Dyer, senior vice president, strategic planning and development at IMG, the agency that represents Patrick and engineered her move to NASCAR. Dyer is part of an IMG team that includes Alan Zucker, Patrick’s agent from the client representation group; Tom Worcester from business development; and Tom Knox from motorsports business development.
GoDaddy.com will be the primary sponsor on Patrick’s No. 7 Chevrolet at JRM, and two other associate sponsorships are close. Primary, full-season sponsorships in the Nationwide Series run anywhere from $5 million to $7 million a year for the top teams.
Go Daddy also sponsors Patrick in IndyCar, so the potential for sponsor conflict has been limited so far. IndyCar primary sponsorships run about the same as Nationwide team deals, in the mid-to-high seven figures.
Additionally, Go Daddy is spending well into eight figures to sponsor Mark Martin’s No. 5 Sprint Cup car for a majority of the 36 races next year, bringing the total sponsorship spend for the domain name provider to more than $20 million. That doesn’t include Go Daddy’s significant media buy, which will include two spots for Patrick ads in the Super Bowl.
Go Daddy also sponsored a JRM car last season and is expected to have a relationship with Earnhardt this season.
As IMG and JRM work together to fill out the sponsorship on her Nationwide Series car, the more compelling possibilities are how Patrick might work together with Earnhardt, NASCAR’s most popular driver for seven straight seasons. Earnhardt’s co-primary sponsors are Pepsi’s Amp Energy and National Guard, while he also endorses Nationwide Insurance, the title sponsor of NASCAR’s No. 2 series. John Aman, associate vice president of sponsorships for Nationwide, has said the insurance giant is studying endorsement opportunities, which could play off Patrick’s participation in the series or her ties with Earnhardt.
“Absolutely” there will be opportunities, Dyer said, for Patrick and Earnhardt to work together. “There are a lot of brands within Pepsi, and Dale has his own affiliation with Go Daddy and Nationwide as well.”
Just as interesting is the potential for a brand to pair Patrick and Earnhardt’s sister, Kelley, the president of JRM who negotiated the deal with IMG to bring Patrick to the team. Kelley Earnhardt, like Patrick, is blazing trails as a woman in a profession dominated by men.
“There are some great story lines there about Danica coming to NASCAR and the female executive who helped bring her into the sport,” Dyer said.
Other entities can’t wait to put Patrick’s star power to use as well, given her perceived ability to drive ticket sales and TV ratings, two areas that have slumped in recent years. Chris Powell, president of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, is already devising promotional possibilities that would incorporate Patrick in a ticket-selling plan.
Patrick has not yet committed to a race schedule, but with the Feb. 27 Las Vegas race the third event on the Nationwide Series schedule—well before the March 14 season opener in IndyCar—she is expected to include Vegas on her calendar.
“It’s a breath of fresh air for the sport,” Powell said. “We’re hoping to create a promotion around her appearance that will be exciting for fans and potentially rewarding. What we hope is that a fan or fans will win something based on where Danica finishes. Ever since there’s been talk about her coming into NASCAR, we’ve been talking about ways to leverage her presence and profile.”
Patrick, likewise, will figure heavily into ESPN’s promotion of the Nationwide Series, which typically begins with a brand campaign around late January, about three weeks before the start of the season. ESPN2 carries most of the Nationwide Series races, with some bouncing over to ESPN or ABC. Viewership for NASCAR’s No. 2 series was down 12.7 percent in 2009, averaging 1.8 million viewers for 35 races.
“Danica is one of the drivers who has proven she can move the meter,” said Julie Sobieski, ESPN’s vice president, programming and acquisitions. “In 2005, we saw significant increases in the Indy 500 when she was a rookie. She’s a story that transcends the sport and has the power to bring in different viewers. Casual fans will gravitate to this story line. We see advantages across both of the series, Nationwide and IndyCar.”
Dyer said the strategy with Patrick has been to position her as a NASCAR driver, not solely a Nationwide Series driver. And despite her partial schedule in NASCAR as she continues to compete full time in IndyCar, “there will be the ability to market with her yearlong,” Dyer said.
It remains to be seen where Peak, one of Danica’s longest-running partners, will fit in on her Nationwide or IndyCar car, but that relationship is expected to continue.
Michael Smith is a reporter with SportsBusiness Journal.
Danica Patrick announces limited Nationwide schedule
A year’s worth of rumors and speculation regarding Danica Patrick’s move to NASCAR were put to rest on Tuesday in Phoenix, Ariz. when it was announced that Danica Patrick would drive the No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet in the Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports. After signing a three-year contract with IndyCar Series team Andretti Autosport, 27-year-old Patrick will race open-wheel and stock car races concurrently.
- GoDaddy PR
According to JR Motorsports Vice President Kelly Earnhardt Elledge, the No. 5 Nationwide Series team will not race next year, as it stands right now. Earnhardt Elledge continued to say that Patrick will be locked into the field, however she did not directly say the points would come from the No. 5 team. This means that JR Motorsports will continue to be a two car team with a full-time operation, the No. 88 driven by Kelly Bires, and the No. 7 part-time operation.
Patrick will drive a limited schedule in the JRM Chevrolet with her NASCAR Nationwide Series debut and number of races still to be determined. Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s former crew chief in the Sprint Cup Series, Tony Eury Jr., will be her Nationwide Series crew chief.
“We’re not a 100 percent sure on the all of the details (NASCAR schedule) at this point, but the primary focus will be before and after the IndyCar Series season as IndyCar is the primary focus,” Patrick said.
Patrick will be with a JRM Chevrolet on Dec. 18-20 for the ARCA Series test at Daytona.
- GoDaddy PR
“One of the things JRM has to offer is proven NASCAR experience,” Kelly Earnhardt Elledge said. “This is a team sport, and our team will help Danica get up to speed quickly. She’s slated to begin working with our crew starting with the upcoming ARCA tests.”
Before arriving to race at Daytona, however, Patrick will first participate in the ARCA Series event at Daytona on Feb. 6. This is because of a technicality in which NASCAR requires competitors to race a restrictor plate race in another series before they can do so in one of NASCAR’s top-three national touring series.
Once she participates in the event, she will be cleared to race at any track, a NASCAR official confirmed.
This will be the first time in Patrick’s auto racing career that she will be driving a stock car in a competitive setting. The Roscoe, Ill. native did test a Nationwide Series car in 2002 before deciding to race in the IndyCar Series.
She made her IZOD IndyCar Series debut at Homestead in 2005 with Rahal Letterman Racing. After a two-year stint with RLR, she joined Andretti Autosport in 2007. With 81 career starts and three full-time seasons in the IndyCar Series, Patrick has posted one win and a career average finish of 10.1.
Patrick will be the 33rd woman to race in NASCAR and the 13th women to race in the Nationwide Series.
