Danica Patrick Announces 12-Race Nascar Schedule

Danica Patrick said Thursday that she planned to compete this year in at least 12 races on the Nascar Nationwide Series, the second highest level in the sport. Officials at the racetracks where she expects to compete promptly stomped on their marketing accelerators to sell tickets.

In a statement, Patrick, 27, who also will compete full-time in the Izod IndyCar Series, said, “We just want to be smart and calculative about this process. The tracks we’ve selected not only complement the IndyCar schedule, but will give me quality seat time at a variety of facilities.”

Patrick is to make her stock car debut Feb. 6 at Daytona Beach, Fla., in a race in the Automobile Racing Club of America series, one notch below the Nationwide Series. A week later, her car is entered in the Nationwide Series race on Feb. 13 at Daytona International Speedway — but JR Motorsports will determine after the ARCA race whether she will drive Feb. 13.

“We want to give Danica the best opportunity to compete at Daytona, and that includes making sure she is 100 percent comfortable in that driver’s seat,” said Kelley Earnhardt, the sister of the stock car star Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the general manager of JR Motorsports. “The Nationwide race there is perhaps the most competitive race of the year.”

Patrick will race in Nationwide Series events on Feb. 20 in Fontana, Calif., and on Feb. 27 in Las Vegas. Then she will focus on the IndyCar Series before racing in a Nationwide Series event June 26 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The speedway later sent out a news release that called Patrick’s announcement a “gift.”

Jerry Gappens, the executive vice president and general manager of the racetrack in Loudon, N.H., flew to the JR Motorsports shop in Mooresville, N.C., last month with 20 pounds of fresh lobster to entice Patrick and her crew to race at New Hampshire. She did not eat the lobster, Gappens said, so he might buy her a pair of fashionable high heels.

“This is great news for our fans here in New England,” Gappens said in a statement that also mentioned that tickets were on sale for the race for as little as $25. “She is a talented racecar driver and a major sports personality that will bring the national spotlight to the largest sports and entertainment facility in New England.”

Patrick plans to participate in Nationwide races at Chicagoland Speedway on July 9; Michigan International Speedway on Aug. 14; Dover, Del., International Speedway on Sept. 25; back in Fontana, Calif., on Oct. 9; Charlotte Motor Speedway on Oct. 15; Gateway International Raceway in Illinois on Oct. 23; Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 6; Phoenix International Raceway on Nov. 13, and Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida on Nov. 20.

Roger Curtis, the president of Michigan International Speedway, said, “Danica and her team, JR Motorsports, felt that M.I.S. would be a facility she could have some success at in her first year in stock car racing. It will be special for our race fans to watch. At least we didn’t have to bring her a lobster to get her to race here.”