After Danica Patrick announced she would supplement her IndyCar Series career by racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, informed sources said she will make her NASCAR debut at Auto Club Speedway in February. According to sources who requested anonymity as they are not authorized to officially speak on the matter, Patrick will race for JR Motorsports at the Feb. 20 Nationwide Staters Bros. 300 at the Fontana track. Her full Nationwide schedule is expected to be released in a news conference next week. “We have not heard anything,” said David Talley, director of communications for the speedway. “I know our race fits into the window of racing before and after the IndyCar Series. If Patrick does race stock cars at Auto Club Speedway, it will mark her second appearance on the 2-mile speedway. In her rookie IndyCar season in 2005, she finished 18th in the Toyota Indy 400 after qualifying fourth.(Los Angeles Daily News)(12-10-2009)
UPDATE: Kelley Earnhardt of JR Motorsports announced Thursday that Danica Patrick’s first NASCAR Nationwide Series race is scheduled to be at Auto Club Speedway in the #7 GoDaddy.com Chevy. Patrick’s second scheduled race is at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Patrick is expected to run approximately 13 races, but the full schedule has not been determined.(SPEED’s press conference coverage)(12-17-2009)
UPDATE2 – Daytona still possible: Her NASCAR debut is very much in doubt, but Danica Patrick and JR Motorsports made it official she will race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana and the following week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Her GoDaddy.com-sponsored Chevrolet will have points from a year ago, which means she will not need to qualify. Patrick’s first NASCAR race could be the Nationwide race at Daytona. Team co-owners Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick, however, will allow her to make that call following an ARCA race earlier on the high-banked track. “The race is basically a Cup race. Some 30-odd drivers from (Sprint) Cup running that race, and is that the right time for me to start or not? I’m really not sure,” Patrick said Thursday at the JR Motorsports press conference in Mooresville, N.C. “You only get one grand opening, as I’ve heard. We want it to be the right opportunity. We don’t want to overcommit and under-deliver.”
“Daytona is just a beast,” co-owner Kelley Earnhardt and general manager said. “As she alluded to, the experience of 30-some Cup drivers out there against what experience she is going to have. Is that a situation she wants to put herself into? It’s a do-or-die. Do we want to put that to be her first entry point coming into NASCAR? You’re always remembered by it. Dale Jr., his first Daytona race in 1998, he was upside down on his roof.”(Inland Valley Inland Bulletin)(12-18-2009)
