CUP: Patrick Makes It Official

Sprint Cup

CUP: Patrick Makes It Official

Danica Patrick is moving to NASCAR full-time in 2012...

Tom Jensen | Posted August 25, 2011 Charlotte, NC

Danica Patrick speaks at Thursday's press conference announcing her 2012 NASCAR plans. (Photo: Getty Images)

Danica Patrick confirmed the worst-kept secret in motorsports Thursday, when she announced she is moving to NASCAR full-time next year. The popular soon-to-be-ex-IndyCar racer will run a full NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports and a limited schedule of Sprint Cup races with Stewart-Haas Racing.

Patrick said she may make her Sprint Cup debut in the 2012 Daytona 500, with eight to 10 races on the Cup schedule, although her schedule as not been set.

“I made this decision because of how much I enjoy driving a stock car,” she said.

GoDaddy.com will continue to sponsor her. She will continue to drive the No. 7 Nationwide car, but said she does not have a car number for her Sprint Cup car yet.

“It’s very exciting,” said Patrick, who confirmed her goal is to move full-time to the Sprint Cup Series in 2013. “I’m excited to finally say it.”

As for the possibility of running the 2012 Indianapolis 500, Patrick said that remains an option, but nothing has been decided yet. “Still uncertain about that right now,” she said. “We're not sure. The schedule is still in the works."

For her NASCAR career, Patrick has 20 Nationwide Series starts with a best of fourth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this year. She has one top-five and three top-10 finishes, with an average start of 23.6 and an average finish of 23.8.

In the IZOD IndyCar Series, she has 111 starts, with one victory, 20 top-five and 61 top-10 finishes. There, her average start is 11.7 and her average finish 10.6.

Patrick said when she first drove an ARCA stock car at Daytona in February 2010 “it was the most fun she’d ever had in a race car.”

The biggest challenge, she said, is getting used to the rhythm of NASCAR races. “Everything’s the same, but everything’s different,” she said when asked to compare IndyCar and NASCAR racing.

“My greatest successes in racing come when I’m happy and when I’m enjoying myself,” Patrick said. “... I’ve truly enjoyed my experience in NASCAR to the point where I want to do it full-time. ... The people are so nice. Everybody is so nice to me.”

Danica Patrick is joining NASCAR full-time this season. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

“We’re very excited to have Danica Patrick and Go Daddy join Stewart-Haas Racing in 2012 for a limited NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule with the intention of us running her full-time in Sprint Cup in 2013,” Stewart-Haas co-owner Tony Stewart said in a statement released by the team on Thursday. “We’re proud of the fact she wants to come and be a part of Stewart-Haas Racing and what we’ve built with Ryan Newman and myself and all of our partners. Having Danica and Go Daddy as a combination at SHR is something we’re really looking forward to.

“The thing you see in Danica right away is how determined she is to be good at what she does. She’s very dedicated to taking the time and effort to make the transition from Indy cars to stock cars. She has talent, she has the right mindset and she has the proper drive and determination. It doesn’t matter who it is you’re looking for, those are the key attributes that you look for in a driver, and Danica’s got them.”

NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France also welcomed Patrick into the fold.

“We are pleased Danica Patrick has chosen to race full time in NASCAR in 2012,” France said in a statement issued by NASCAR. “She has demonstrated a strong desire to compete and NASCAR provides the best opportunity to race against the top drivers in the world with the largest and most loyal fan base in motorsports on a week-to-week basis. Danica has shown solid improvement in NASCAR and we believe her decision to run full time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, with additional races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, will be exciting for our fans and a great challenge for her.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

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