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Patrick remains driven

She’s on a mission to add NASCAR ride

By Michael Vega
Globe Staff / November 7, 2009

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Danica and Dale Jr. What a sponsor’s match made in heaven. It must have left GoDaddy.com feeling like a proud papa this week when reports surfaced that Danica Patrick, whose IndyCar Series ride with Andretti Green Racing is sponsored by GoDaddy, was close to signing a two-year deal to drive a limited Nationwide Series schedule next season for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s. JR Motorsports team.

With GoDaddy, of course, as the primary sponsor.

After recently signing a three-year extension with Andretti Green through 2012, Patrick seems intent on pursuing an exploration into NASCAR by joining Earnhardt’s team, which had a seat available because Brad Keselowski signed a Sprint Cup deal with Penske Racing to replace David Stremme in the No. 12 Dodge.

“She’s really serious about coming to NASCAR,’’ Earnhardt told SceneDaily.com, who said there is competition for her services. “A lot of people, I guess, thought that it was just a media hoax or her kind of blowing smoke. She’s really serious about it, and she’s going to do it with somebody.’’

Although Patrick did have discussions with Michael Waltrip last month and with Tony Stewart earlier this year, it appears Earnhardt has emerged as the front-runner because of one important person: car owner Rick Hendrick, who met with Patrick and pledged his support for her program at JR Motorsports. That was a huge negotiating tool for Earnhardt’s sister, Kelley Earnhardt Elledge, who has spearheaded the negotiations, which intensified this week.

When Hendrick scored a coup two years ago by signing Earnhardt to a five-year contract, his star-studded collection of drivers - which includes four-time champion Jeff Gordon and reigning champion Jimmie Johnson, who is on the cusp of winning an unprecedented fourth in a row - were characterized as the New York Yankees of NASCAR.

Now, it appears Hendrick is swinging for the fences again. In helping Earnhardt position himself to sign the 27-year-old Patrick, Hendrick would be paving the way for her to move to Sprint Cup (when the circumstances are right) with his organization.

Although NASCAR next season will scale down the size of Sprint Cup teams from five to four cars, Patrick would be in position to slide into a spot at Hendrick if 50-year-old driver Mark Martin retires. Two months ago, Martin agreed to a two-year extension with Hendrick through 2011, with GoDaddy coming aboard as the primary sponsor of his No. 5 next season. The sponsor and team would be in place for Patrick to make a smooth transition from Nationwide to Sprint Cup with the Hendrick organization.

If all goes as planned, Patrick would compete in a full IndyCar Series schedule while adding 12-13 Nationwide Series races. It was hoped she could make her debut in February at Daytona, if not in a Nationwide car, then in an ARCA event. If she doesn’t get NASCAR approval in time for the Nationwide Series opener at Daytona, then she would likely run her first race at Fontana, Calif.

“Danica’s a racer,’’ said Lyn St. James, who has closely followed Patrick’s career. “She’s doing this because she’s a racer to her core. She’s maturing and evolving and she’s ready.’’

Great position
With three races remaining in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, Johnson will take a 184-point lead into the Dickies 500 tomorrow at Texas Motor Speedway and while almost everyone believes his fourth consecutive title is a fait accompli, Johnson is not ready to declare it over. “I don’t want to because it isn’t,’’ he said. “I don’t want to think about it that way until it’s mathematically locked up.’’ In the remaining races at Texas, Phoenix, and Homestead, Johnson needs to average a 10th-place finish to wrap up another title. But Johnson is not about to take the conservative approach. “I feel like we can win races,’’ he said. “I feel like we can run up front and we can lead laps, so it’s still the same stuff. We just want to go out and perform.’’ . . . Gordon won the pole, his first of the season, which extended his streak to 17 straight years with a pole . . . . . . In winning last weekend’s Amp Energy 500 at Talladega, Jamie McMurray, who will be departing Roush Fenway Racing at season’s end when it scales back to four teams, gave his prospects for landing a ride next season an immeasurable boost. McMurray has been rumored to be in talks with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing as Martin Truex’s replacement in the No. 1 car. “I feel confident that I’m going to be in a really good car next year, with a great sponsor, and it’s all going to work out,’’ McMurray said. “But it’s not signed yet and until it’s signed, you just never know what can happen.’’ . . . In two trips to Talladega this season, Ryan Newman found himself in two frightening crashes in which cars went airborne at the 2.66-mile super speedway. In the spring, Carl Edwards’s car spun and collided with Newman’s car which was vaulted into the catch fence. Last weekend, Newman’s No. 39 car got hit from behind by Marcos Ambrose’s car. Newman’s car spun and flipped on to its roof, sliding across the track into the infield. It took rescue crews nearly 14 minutes to extricate Newman. Newman, who met with NASCAR officials Wednesday to discuss his accident, said it was the result of NASCAR’s restrictions on bump drafting at the restrictor-plate track. “I stated in my post-infield care center interview that I thought the drivers need to have a little bit more respect from NASCAR in order for us to make our own decisions,’’ Newman said. “For us to be able to go out there and say, ‘Hey, I’ll treat you the way I know you want to be treated and vice versa.’ I feel it used to be that way. This sport has grown so much because of those people, those drivers that made it that way, and the more restriction you [put on] the drivers, the less the fans are going to be delivered excitement. That’s not good.’’

Pulling fast ones
What’s going on with Formula 1? First, Honda and BMW pull out, followed by Bridgestone, and this week Toyota. Now Renault may be pulling out as well, leaving some to wonder about return on investment for those corporations involved in the expensive, globe-trotting open-wheel series. Toyota departs F1 after making 13 podium and 87 points finishes in 140 races over the last eight seasons. “I have called for Toyota to concentrate on serving customers one at a time with flavorful vehicles that make them happy,’’ said Akio Toyoda, who became president of Toyota Motor Corporation in June. “That priority mandates a fundamental shift in resource allocation. A sad result of that shift is that we have insufficient resources to maintain a viable commitment to F1 racing.’’ It might explain why Toyota driver Jarno Trulli has begun to explore his options. Trulli was spotted at a NASCAR race in Michigan last year and was in Charlotte last month. He was expected to do a test with Michael Waltrip Racing along with former F1 driver Mika Salo, who is hoping to follow the trail Juan Pablo Montoya blazed from F1 to NASCAR. “I want to stress that this is purely an opportunity to experience another category of motorsport for personal enjoyment,’’ Trulli said. “My commitment is 100 percent to Formula 1.’’

Material from interviews, wire services, race teams, sponsors, track publicity departments and various sanctioning bodies was used in the preparation of this report. Michael Vega can be reached at vega@globe.com.

© Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.