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NASCAR Nationwide Series
NNS: Kelley Earnhardt Handling Patrick Talks
Kelley Earnhardt is handling negotiations with Danica Patrick concerning running a partial schedule next season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series...
SceneDaily.com  |  Posted December 04, 2009   Las Vegas, NV
Kelley Earnhardt, the co-owner of JR Motorsports and sister of Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Rick Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are among the co-owners of JR Motorsports, but they are letting Kelley Earnhardt – the team general manager and one of two new co-owners of the team – handle the negotiations with IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick concerning running a partial schedule next season in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

Speaking following the annual NASCAR NMPA Myers Brothers Awards ceremony, Earnhardt Jr. said he doesn’t know the latest details on whether the organization is close to signing Patrick with the team. The team is considered the frontrunner to land the 27-year-old open-wheel standout for a NASCAR ride.

“It’s still sort of in the negotiations stages,” said Earnhardt Jr., who also revealed that his sister Kelley as well as cousin Tony Eury Jr. now own pieces of the team. “Her and my sister, I guess, are managing that entirely. I have not been in any way, shape or form involved. … She wants to see what’s up. It will happen when she wants it to happen.

“I haven’t spent time with her. I’m not in the middle of it at all. Y’all know she has had interest. She has talked to her company. Her and my sister are the only ones that have any dialogue back and forth.”

Hendrick, speaking prior to the awards ceremony, said he also has little insight into any new developments.

“You need to talk to [JR Motorsports general manager] Kelley Earnhardt,” said Hendrick. “She runs that deal up there. I’m a partner but I don’t run that deal. That’s the honest to goodness truth. I support them and I’m a partner, but that’s her call.”

Patrick recently announced an agreement to drive in the Izod IndyCar Series for Andretti Autosport next season and is under contract for two years with a joint option for a third year. But Patrick’s own Web site posted a headshot for a couple of hours Monday that showed Patrick in a JR Motorsports uniform.

“You guys don’t even need those kind of things to figure out what’s going on a lot of times,” Earnhardt Jr. said about the photo. “But I can’t help you.”

Earnhardt Jr. said Patrick will be in a stock car, and likely soon.

“She’s going to drive stock cars for somebody someday,” he said. “Look at all the Formula One guys over here looking around checking it out. The writing is on the wall for her and several other guys.

“It’s exciting. She would be great for our sport.”

Hendrick agreed. Patrick, one of the most notable female racers in the world, has one IndyCar victory in her career, which came in Japan in 2008. She finished fifth in the IndyCar standings in 2009.

“I think it could be a really good thing, especially with Kelley,” Hendrick said of JR Motorsports landing Patrick. “Kelley is such a talent, I think, from a marketing side and if it works out, I think Danica’s got talent. So why wouldn’t they do that?”

Hendrick said he voices his opinion about matters such as the potential of signing of Patrick only “if they ask me.”

Asked if his opinion has been sought, he said “sometimes.”

“It’s 100 percent in Kelley’s court,” Hendrick said. “She’s looked at the options and I support her in whatever she wants to do there. And I actually haven’t talked to her about that in two weeks. … That’s kind of one of those deals that if it fits, if it works. If we can do the races, if [Patrick] wants to, if Kelley wants to, it’s not something that I’m involved in.”

Hendrick doesn’t believe bringing Patrick into the fold could be a potential distraction for Earnhardt Jr., who competes for Hendrick in the Sprint Cup Series.

Earnhardt Jr. is coming off a disappointing season in which he finished 25th in the Cup standings and failed to win a race.

“I don’t think that would be a distraction to Junior,” Hendrick said. “ ... The [Nationwide] team, he basically lets Kelley run that. Junior doesn’t have to get involved in that.”
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