tlw9191
Bench Warmer
Danica Patrick will "all but certainly" be in NASCAR in 2010, but won't give up Indy car racing and will limit next year's activity to the Nationwide Series and Trucks, according to a source very close to the situation. Tony Stewart is the "star candidate" to be her partner and mentor in NASCAR, the source said, adding that Patrick's recent visits to Stewart-Haas Racing were much more than social -- that she and Stewart were discussing a deal, and are close to one. The plan is for Patrick to run a significant number of Nationwide races, with additional seat time in Trucks and ARCA cars. Stewart took a similar transitional path to NASCAR in 1998, running a full Indy car schedule and also 22 Nationwide (then Busch) races. Patrick's likeliest first stock car race would be the ARCA event at Daytona during SpeedWeeks next February. Because Stewart's team has neither Nationwide cars nor trucks in its stable, a third partner will be brought into the mix, the source said -- possibly Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports, or, more likely, Kevin Harvick Inc., which fields both Trucks and Nationwide cars. Patrick is close to signing a contract renewal with Andretti Green Racing for Indy cars, the source said, but it's not a done deal yet. Sponsorship is not considered an issue for America's top female driver, and the first car manufacturer to sign Patrick to a NASCAR deal would get a big boost in brand exposure.
