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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: What Does Patrick’s Move Mean?
Danica Patrick will get her first taste of a stock car later this month...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted December 08, 2009   Charlotte, NC
Danica Patrick has a full time job racing in the Izod IndyCar Series so NASCAR competition will have to be part time in 2010. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Danica Patrick will begin testing the NASCAR waters in 2010, but beyond the novelty factor of her appearance, how much of an impact she makes on the sport of stock-car racing is very much an open question at this point.

Patrick has scheduled a press conference from Phoenix at 1 p.m. ET today, at which time she is expected to announce that next season she will run a limited ARCA and NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule with cars from JR Motorsports and sponsorship from GoDaddy.com.

The 27-year-old Illinois native is arguably the only marketable star the Izod IndyCar Series has at the moment, but her success is owed at least as much to what she’s accomplished off the track as she has on it. For better or worse, Patrick has gained at least as much attention for her racy Sports Illustrated swimsuit layouts and salacious GoDaddy.com commercials as she has on the track.

In 81 IndyCar starts, Patrick has one victory, 16 top-five and 46 top-10 finishes. Her best points finish came this year, when she was fifth.

Last week, Patrick announced that she had signed a new three-year contract to remain at Andretti Autosport in the IndyCar Series. So whatever she does end up doing in stock cars will be a part-time thing, at least through the end of 2012. In last week’s teleconference, she and Andretti both insisted that open-wheel racing would remain her primary job.

“The goal will be we'll have to work the programs to make sure that the IndyCar is still her main focus because still the main goal is to win Indianapolis and the championship with Danica,” said Andretti. “And I think we have a good shot at it. We want to make sure that it still is going to be the main focus.”

“And to back up what Mike just said, that is the main focus,” Patrick added. “I've been lucky enough to come close a few times to winning the Indy 500, and that is a serious goal of mine. IndyCar is always going to be the focus, if the other series were to happen.”


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