Is Danica Patrick NASCAR bound?

Is Danica Patrick headed to a NASCAR team? AP Photo/Darren Hauck

According to a few reports from sites like Jayski and others Danica Patrick is set to sign a contract with Ganassi racing. On the surface this looks to be a deal to take her IRL racing career to the next level. However Chip Ganassi also owns a NASCAR Sprint Cup team and this may be the first move of a Danica to NASCAR strategy.

George Pine who was NASCAR’s COO and now is the head of IMG Sports and Entertainment seems to think that there is a garage wide push in NASCAR to get Danica into stock cars.

Currently there is no other more marketable driving talent in all of American auto racing leagues then Danica, save for Dale Earnhardt Jr. What that means is any team that signs Danica more than likely not have a hard time finding enough sponsorship to allow her to run for 2010 Cup rookie of the year.

There seems to be two main sticking points here the first being NASCAR rules. NASCAR only allows each team to operate four teams in the Cup series. That means many of NASCAR’s super teams would not have room for Danica on their rosters. Teams like Roush Fenway Racing, Richard Childress Racing, and Hendrick Motor Sports do not have openings.

However Joe Gibbs racing and Ganassi’s Cup team do have room for another driver. Danica’s marketability really makes her an attractive option. However her lack of experience does not and really that is what is going to drive the decision to bring her to NASCAR.

IRL Indy cars are completely different animal then NASCAR stock cars. It has taken Sam Hornish, an IRL driver who made this switch in the prime of his career, more then 1.5 years to finally run well in the NASCAR sprint Cup series.

To insure her success she would have to get started running in the NASCAR Nationwide or Truck series sooner rather than later. I have no idea if Danica’s current IRL contract would allow her to start running in NASCAR races in 2009, but that would be the first step if she wanted to make this move.

Since the last IRL race is October 10th that would leave Danica six possible Cup races to run in the current season. It would also leave her 6 Nationwide races to possible start in and five Truck series races to get a little stock car experience.

For any team who would consider putting Danica into a Cup car for 2010 she would have to run a good number of those races to get her acclimated to the heavier cars of NASCAR.

In all reality though Danica would have to swallow some pride run these few 2009 races and then compete full time in one of NASCAR’s lesser series in 2010 in preparation for a full time Cup series run in 2011.

The IRL season is only 17 races long, the Cup series is more then double that at 36 races. Even the Nationwide series is double that a 35 dates. That is a lot of racing in cars she is not familiar with.

Any potential Cup team who would field a team for Danica would have to resist the temptation to immediately place her into the grind that is the Cup series. To do so might so damage her chances of a legitimate shot at a NASCAR career.