My Speculation: Look For Danica Patrick Driving Stock Cars In April
Danica Patrick made her announcement today about her immediate driving future.
Drum roll please ...
Danica will be driving full-time for the next 3 years in IndyCar with Andretti Autosport (formerly Andretti Green Racing).
No NASCAR announcement.
Yet.
In a post announcement interview with USA Today Patrick had this to say about her possible involvement in NASCAR;
"Like I said this morning, if I can run both (series), I'd like to. Whether or not that's going to happen or not, it's definitely not too late and it's definitely a possibility." - Nate Ryan, USA Today
And add this to the early November Cathy Elliott penned press-release from NASCAR where Elliott concludes from details given to her from an undisclosed source that, "After years of speculation and conjecture, it appears that Danica Patrick will finally make the move to NASCAR. It’s reportedly a part-time arrangement, including both Nationwide and ARCA races. Patrick will also continue to compete full-time in what has, to date, been her series of choice, the IRL."
Hmm ...
Perhaps the most convincing evidence to date about Danica's possible foray into the world of Stock Cars comes from photo evidence that appeared on her own website danicaracing.com and then mysteriously disappeared from the face of the Internet except for some keen-eyed guy over at The Sporting News via NASCAR.com who managed to capture the photo and placed it with his article (click the link to view the picture).
Danica is wearing a fire suit in the photo - nothing wrong here right? Maybe if yor are just a casual fan you wouldn't catch it right away, but if you are a die-hard Indy fan or NASCAR fan and know the difference between the two series you would have caught the fact that on the fire-suit there is a Chevy symbol and what appears to be Nationwide Series and Jr Motorsports logos along with her normal GoDaddy.com logo.
If you go to Andretti Autosport's site you'll find a picture of Danica in her IRL firesuit and that has Izod and Honda logos on it.
Hmm ...
As of the time this article was written Dancia has not entered into the ARCA race scheduled for February 6th at Daytona. I believe the official entry deadline is Dec. 1st with testing starting Dec. 18th. The entry fee is also a hefty one at $150 000.
I would expect that if Danica and her team decided to enter the Feb. ARCA race they would be allowed to do so even after the official deadline. I mean imagine the media attention the ARCA series would get by having Danica in their line-up? But I don't think she'll be there.
My speculation about Danica racing in non-open wheeled machines is this; she will be racing in stock cars this year and it will be for Jr Motorsports, she will be racing in both ARCA and in Nationwide, and her first race will probably be on April 16th when the ARCA series races at the Texas Motorspeedway.
This makes sense because both of NASCAR’s top two series will be there on the 17th and the 18th and Texas is pretty close to Danica’s home in Phoenix Arizona. Also, if the sponsorship works out right she could race in both the ARCA and Nationwide races that weekend while having Dale Jr and Rick Hendrick there to help her out.
Its a perfect fit, and Texas is a bit safer start than Daytona for anyone who has never raced these types of cars before.
So there you have my bold prediction; look for Danica mania to strike the world of stock cars in April at Texas Motor Speedway.
