Danica will race in NASCAR.........

Hey All,

Danica and Eury Jr? What the Hey! Who thought of that - I have my doubts about the wisdom of that match. I would hate to see her get off on the wrong foot. I think she needs a CC with experience talking to open wheelers not a NASCAR good ole boy.

Good to see her run some races though. Running ARCA and some Nationwide is a good way to get her feet wet.

-Ed-
 
A little more info, seems Tony may be involved too.

Finally? Danica to announce Nationwide ride on Tuesday: Danica Patrick will announce on Tuesday in Phoenix her decision to drive a part-time Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports in 2010. ESPN.com reported last month that Patrick was in the final stages of negotiations with JRM to compete in about a dozen races in a #7 -- her number in IndyCar -- Chevy with GoDaddy.com as the sponsor. The source said that has not changed. The GoDaddy.com sponsorship will be only for the races in which Patrick drives, sources said. JRM continues to look for sponsors for the #88 that will be driven by Kelly Bires and any remaining races for the second car. When Patrick announced her three-year extension with Andretti Autosport last week in New York a picture appeared on her Web site with her in a NASCAR fire suit bearing a JRM and other NASCAR-related logos. It quickly was removed [see the image - click here]. The plan is to enter Patrick in the ARCA Series opener in February at Daytona International Speedway and get her approved by NASCAR for the Nationwide [Daytona] race. ARCA owner Bobby Gerhart recently was contacted about putting Patrick in one of his cars for a Dec. 18-20 test at Daytona. He told ESPN.com on Monday he expected her to be in a car prepared by JR Motorsports at the test. "My gut feeling is I think she'll drive something out of Mooresville, N.C.,'' he said, referring to the location of JR. "That's what I'm hearing. It'll be that powerful of a program that that's the way it would go if that happens.''(ESPN.com and Associated Press)(12-7-2009)
AND GoDaddy.com reports that Go Daddy Girl Danica Patrick reveals her NASCAR future on the GoDaddy.com site on Dec. 8, 11:00am MT / 1:00 pm ET.
HEARING that Tony Stewart could be involved in this somehow, part car owner? (12-8-2009)
 
I think starting her in ARCA is a good idea. NASCAR is a whole different style of racing and from what I've seen, open wheel drivers jumping into Nationwide and Cup cars struggle to adapt. As for Tony Eury, Jr., I think he's a good crew chief with the old style cars, it's the COT that he doesn't seem to have a clue about.
 
The master plan.


More Danica details: It doesn't get better than this for the Nationwide Series. A league that has become Cup Lite, a glorified practice session for Cup drivers, now becomes Patrick's testing ground for the events she enters. It's all part of a master plan. She will make her stock car debut in the ARCA race at Daytona on Feb. 6, the day before she appears in two GoDaddy.com commercials during the Super Bowl. GoDaddy.com CEO Bob Parsons is investing millions here, including the two-year deal to sponsor the #5 Cup car of Mark Martin. The plan is obvious. Martin drives two more years, then hands over the 5 car to Patrick in 2012. "Just thinking about that makes my eyes twinkle," Parsons said Tuesday. "But we'll see how it goes and look at it when we get to that point." If Patrick flops in Nationwide, that point never may arrive. If she is competitive, NASCAR will have a cash cow for years to come. If not, NASCAR got a giant jolt of electricity from Patrick's presence, however brief.(ESPN.com)
AND: Danica Patrick is going Nationwide Series racing next year, and there really is only one main reason people go Nationwide Series racing - to get ready to go Sprint Cup racing. But for both the Izod IndyCar Series driver and for JR Motorsports, the team she will drive for, that's talk for down the road, and the first step is to be successful over the next two seasons with Patrick running a partial Nationwide Series schedule along with a full IndyCar schedule. Her number of Nationwide races was not announced Tuesday when Patrick's plans were formally announced, but it likely will be a dozen or fewer each year because of the IndyCar schedule, which has 17 races in 2010. Whether 20-30 races over two years would be enough to get her ready for a Cup schedule is questionable as Patrick - a 27-year-old with one career victory and a fifth-place finish in the IndyCar Series last year - embarks on her NASCAR career. JR Motorsports, which opened in 2005, has not competed on the Cup level but has flirted with the possibility for the last few years. If Patrick does well, the sponsorship could come for the organization to make the jump with her.(SceneDaily)(12-8-2009)
 
She is overextending herself, she just signed a three year deal with Andretti Autosport with GoDaddy and 7-Eleven as sponsor and co-sponsor. The report from The Business of Motorsports also says there are strong links that GoDaddy will be the sponser for Mark Martin's Hendrick car next year.

We'll see, good luck to her anyhow, but I think the lady is pushing the envelope to fast.

Caz
 
She is overextending herself, she just signed a three year deal with Andretti Autosport with GoDaddy and 7-Eleven as sponsor and co-sponsor. The report from The Business of Motorsports also says there are strong links that GoDaddy will be the sponser for Mark Martin's Hendrick car next year.

We'll see, good luck to her anyhow, but I think the lady is pushing the envelope to fast.

Caz

If you read the last post I submitted it says the thinking is for GoDaddy to sponser Mark for two more years, then he retires and Danaka goes to cup with GoDaddy. Nice plan, it all depends on if she is any good in a stock car.
 
We'll see, good luck to her anyhow, but I think the lady is pushing the envelope to fast.
Caz

Agreed!
I know things are different but Danica is no way as good as Janet Guthrie was way back when NASCAR was a real 'good ole boys club'.

A rather unfortunate description to use as well: "If she is competitive, NASCAR will have a cash cow for years to come."

:173go1:
 
I think she's made a wise choice; now that she has a solid Indycar deal she has something for the future if her driving a Nascar doesn't work out.

Will be interesting to see how she does! :applause:
 
This is Danica testing in a JR Motorsports car this past Friday. Photo is from Jr's facebook page.
 
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