JR Motorsports will wait until after ARCA race to decide if Danica Patrick runs Nationwide event at Daytona

By Bob Pockrass

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Danica Patrick at ARCA testing in Daytona Beach in December 2009.

LaDon George
NASCAR Illustrated

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CONCORD, N.C. – JR Motorsports will field two cars in the season-opening Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway, and new driver Danica Patrick could be driving one of them.

Full-time driver Kelly Bires, meanwhile, might not be racing at Daytona.

Because of sponsorship, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will drive the team’s No. 88 Hellmann’s car, which Bires is scheduled to drive for much of the season.

Patrick may drive the No. 7 car, team co-owner Kelley Earnhardt said Wednesday during the Charlotte Motor Speedway media tour.

Patrick and the team will not decide whether she will run the Feb. 13 Nationwide race until after she competes in the Feb. 7 Automobile Racing Club of America event. Bires or Mark Martin would likely drive the car if Patrick does not.

“The 7 car will run at Daytona, so we have to decide who runs in that car,” Kelley Earnhardt said. “We won’t make that decision until the Monday after the ARCA race. … The Nationwide Daytona race is basically a Cup race, and for someone like her, that might not be the best situation to put her in.”

Kelley Earnhardt said Patrick’s schedule has not been finalized and she has only committed to Auto Club Speedway in California and Las Vegas Motor Speedway as two of her 13 events this year.

Patrick’s No. 7 car will be locked in for the first five races as JR Motorsports has formed a partnership with CJM Racing, which ceased operations during the off-season. CJM Racing’s No. 11 points – that car finished 15th in the owner standings in 2009 – will be used by the No. 7.

“My expectations are for her to go out and run in the top 20,” Kelley Earnhardt said. “I don’t see any reason why [not]. We provide her a competitive car, she’s a capable driver, she’s done well at the test.

“The key will be her being around 42 other cars and how she’ll handle that. We’ll see.”

In addition to getting Patrick acclimated to her part-time Nationwide schedule, Kelley Earnhardt has to sell sponsorship to keep the No. 88 car on the track as that car is not fully sponsored for 2010.

“It’s been the most difficult thing I think I’ve ever been challenged to do is put sponsorship together right now,” Kelley Earnhardt said. “Even with leveraging Dale Jr. and his relationship with the team, companies are looking at the ways they’re spending money and they’re spending it differently.”

The one person sponsorship has been found for is Patrick, whose new GoDaddy.com commercial will debut in the next couple of weeks and could be considered risque.

“GoDaddy, they have their own way of marketing. … For Danica, that’s where she’s been and I think it’s great,” Kelley Earnhardt said. “She’s a beautiful lady. If she can work both sides of it and be an athlete and be a sexy woman on the same side, that’s stand up for her. To be in the swimsuit issue with Sports Illustrated and to be an athlete, that’s a great thing. At least she’s just not a beautiful model, she’s got athletic talent as well.”