IndyCar driver Danica Patrick has been toying with driving in NASCAR for a long time, it seems. Part of her summer was spent supposedly visiting a few NASCAR shops in North Carolina to try and drum up a potential deal.
Well, it looks like she’s going to get her wish. Rumor has it that Hendrick Motorsports is going to sign Patrick to ride for the JR Motorsports team that is owned by Hendrick driver Earnhardt, Jr. Yahoo! Sports
“We have no deal but she has spoke with Kelley Earnhardt [Dale Jr’s sister who handles that teams business affairs] about a limited number of NASCAR races in that car,” told Hendrick. “I have had some conversation and Kelley Earnhardt has had some conversation with that but Kelly is heading that up.”
“GoDaddy.com would be involved because of Danica’s involvement with Danica and with JR Motorsports. Kelley talked to her in the last week. We are looking at how it matches up with her IndyCar schedule. We are interested and think it would be neat but it has to work out for both sides.”
Patrick signed a three-year IndyCar Series contract with team owner Michael Andretti two weeks ago but has remained quiet on that subject because of sponsor demands who want to have a major press conference to announce the signing. According to IndyCar Series sources, one of Patrick’s sponsor contracts in IndyCar is about to expire so that announcement will not be made until the sponsor is ready to make the announcement.
“She has signed the contract, they just want to make sure the sponsor is ready to make the announcement,” said an IndyCar Series official Saturday afternoon.
Hendrick stressed that any deal with Patrick has to make sense.
“I would just like to do whatever we can do to do it right,” Hendrick said. “We wouldn’t want to do it unless we can do it in a first-class way because that is what she deserves and what she wants. We are looking at her options and her IndyCar schedule so stay tuned.” SI.com
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