Tony Stewart says Danica Patrick is definitely coming to NASCAR

  Talented, sexy and one of racing's hottest marketers: Danica Patrick. So when she comes to NASCAR, will it be with Chevrolet, Ford, Toyota or Dodge? (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
 

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   ATLANTA
   Danica Patrick is flat serious about coming to NASCAR, Tony Stewart says, after her second visit to his North Carolina race shop.
   "Serious," Stewart says.
    "She looked me straight in the eye and said 'This is what I want to do. It looks like fun. It looks like a lot of work, but it looks like fun.'"
    And Stewart says he's hoping she does make the move into NASCAR.
    After talking things over with her, Stewart says it's more an issue now of 'how' and 'when' rather than 'if.'
   That's the most definitive version yet of the long-running Danica Patrick saga this season, as she debates what to do with her career next season.
   The 27-year-old racer, whose next Indy-car stop is next week in Japan, where she won last year, has talked about NASCAR as a major option, now that her current three-year driving contract is up with team owner Michael Andretti.
   But there has been debate whether her NASCAR musings were solid and real or maybe just a contract bargaining ploy.
   Now Stewart, the current Sprint Cup tour leader, says he's convinced that Patrick indeed wants to join the NASCAR family.
   Patrick, he says, is trying to figure out how to make the move – and it's not easy racing NASCAR, even for stock car veterans, much less for Indy-car racers, as Sam Hornish Jr. and Dario Franchitti can attest.
   So Stewart says he's trying to help her.
   And Stewart is a good one to ask for advice, because he too was once an Indy-car star trying to make the move into NASCAR. He spent two years running Busch races before finally making the full move to Cup.
  

   Tony Stewart: mentoring Danica Patrick on how to make the leap from Indy-cars to NASCAR (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

   And what does Chevrolet boss Brent Dewar think about the possibility of Patrick coming to NASCAR? Presumably he would prefer to see her in a Chevy rather than a Toyota, Dodge or Ford.
  "I'm a fan of her's," Dewar says. "She's a great driver. And she's got her own 'brand,' so to speak. And she's doing very well.
   "So I'm intrigued to find out a little more about what her thoughts are, and what she's planning to do.
   "We're all committed to diversity; I think it's good for the sport. I've watched the audiences over my 30 years in racing, and the fan base is now reflecting more how America looks. Racing in Canada last weekend (Montreal, NASCAR's Nationwide tour) was great; the races in Mexico were fantastic.
   "I think she will bring more interest to both males and females. She has an interesting profile. So I'm interested in learning more."
  Very likely at a Saturday night business dinner with Stewart himself.
  

  If Danica Patrick does come to NASCAR, Chevrolet's new Global boss, race fan Brent Dewar, would like her in a Chevrolet (Photo: GM)
  

  Stewart says Monday's visit by Patrick to his shop wasn't the first time the two have talked about NASCAR. And he says he's quite comfortable with Patrick, a vote of approval that would certainly go a long way into her becoming accepted in the tight-knit NASCAR family.
    "She came to us to see our opinion of how she should go about it," Stewart says.
   "The greatest thing is that she asked a lot of very smart questions.
    "I'm just glad to be there for her to bounce ideas off of.
    "I'd love to see her come here. It would be awesome for our sport if she could come over here and be successful.
    "I don't think she has some misguided idea it's going to be easy.
    "And she wants to do it the right way…she has the intention of doing everything right.
     "She wants to know how to make the transition more than anything."
   

   So should we pencil her in for NASCAR's November Nationwide race at Phoenix? Heck, it's just across town from her Scottsdale home. (Photo: Indy Racing League)

   At the moment it appears Patrick will continue racing in the Indy Racing League (which has only a 16-event schedule), and running NASCAR during those off weekends, probably Nationwide events.
     "She's trying to put together her IRL deal (probably with Andretti again) and trying to figure out how to transition that into NASCAR," Stewart says.
     "She's trying to do it the right way. She's not just cutting the cord and all of a sudden jumping into a car she's unfamiliar with.
    "She wants to stay successful where she's at…but try to figure out a way to be able to get some seat time in a (NASCAR) car, where she can start learning -- to where, when she does come, she's got her act together."
    Stewart says it's important to Patrick that she "show everybody she wants to do it the right way."
    Nationwide and Truck before Cup, Stewart says: "You have to learn before you get here. Even Juan Pablo Montoya…and Juan was the exception to the rule (by picking up the nuances of this type of racing so quickly). You have to get used to a heavier race car; and you have to get used to less downforce and smaller tires.
   "It's a lot of learning.
   "And there are a lot of tracks you have to get used to.
   "It's sensory overload.
   "That's why you have to pay your dues before you get to this level."
  
  

   Danica Patrick at the wheel of Richard Childress' Pontiac during the Rolex 24 at Daytona a few months ago. So, hey, Danica is a Jack Daniels' kind of girl? Who'd have thought? Maybe this is another part of the Danica-NASCAR puzzle that is slowly coming together (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)