JR Motorsports takes lead in Danica Patrick sweepstakes
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Dale Earnhardt Jr. says his JR Motorsports team is still negotiating with Danica Patrick about driving a partial schedule in the Nationwide Series next year. And that’s more than what’s happening with one of the other teams courting Patrick – Michael Waltrip Racing.
Sources say that JR Motorsports is the likely destination for the IndyCar Series star, a situation that seems to be confirmed by a halt to talks between Patrick and MWR.
“We’ve been talking to her,” Earnhardt Jr. said Nov. 4. “Other teams are talking to her as well. She’s really serious about coming to NASCAR. 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. We’re working on details and trying to be part of that puzzle. We’ll know more in the future.”
Patrick is expected to run full time for car owner Michael Andretti in the IndyCar Series next year and also begin testing the waters in NASCAR.
“Things have gone so silent in recent weeks for us that I guess I would have to say we don’t have a good feel that we’re part of the discussions any longer,” MWR Vice President Ty Norris said Nov. 6. “We haven’t been officially told one way or the other, but we’re smart enough to understand that [silence means] something. … In recent
weeks, we have had absolutely zero substantive conversations.”
Where Patrick will make her debut is still to be determined. It could be Daytona, although NASCAR could make her start at a non-restrictor-plate track. NASCAR Director of Cost Research Brett Bodine, NASCAR’s point person on the approval process, said he has not received a résumé from Patrick to make a decision.
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