Well, that didn't take long. Less than two days after her successful performance in her very first stock car race, Danica Patrick will be running her very first Nationwide race this Saturday.
JR Motorsports folks had indicated that her entry in the Daytona race would be conditional on a strong performance in the ARCA event. And a sixth-place finish in a race that had more wrecks than a high-speed driver's ed class was apparently enough to impress the higher-ups.
"To be the one driving that Go Daddy car at Daytona means a lot to me," Patrick said in a statement. "Racing in the Nationwide Series race was my goal during this entire two-month preparation process, but we wanted to make sure it was the right thing to do. The ARCA race was a blast, and I'm not ready for my first Daytona Speedweeks to end just yet. I want more racing."
And she'll get it. Danica will be running against many of the best drivers in NASCAR, a field that could include just about everyone south of Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will be running in the #88 car, and Danica will drive the #11, to be sponsored -- of course -- by GoDaddy.com.
Of course, not everybody is thrilled about the Danica promotion. On his Twitter feed, Kelly Bires, who's gotten bounced from his seat to make room for Junior and Danica, issued this statement: "As everyone can see I will not be running Daytona. Very bummed out about it! I will be ready to make a statement in Fontana."
