Danica Patrick next week will formally announce her intent to move to NASCAR full-time in 2012, according to ESPN.
Although her contracts are still being finalized, Patrick — who has raced in both the IndyCar Series and the Nationwide series this season and last season — will drive the No. 7 Chevrolet for the entire 2012 Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports.
Patrick, pictured below, also plans to enter select Sprint Cup races next season in cars prepared by Stewart-Haas Racing, with the intent to move to Sprint Cup full-time in a multiyear deal with Stewart-Haas in 2013.
Patrick is expected to make the announcement in Phoenix, where is headquartered, in a news conference being arranged.
JR Motorsports representatives said Wednesday they have “nothing new to report.”
“Tony Stewart has always said he’d love to have her, but we’re a long ways from being at that point,” Stewart-Haas spokesman Mike Arning said. “From a Stewart-Haas Racing standpoint, things aren’t there yet.”
It is unknown how the move could affect Patrick’s ability to compete in the 2012 Indianapolis 500.
Patrick has raced full-time in the IndyCar Series since 2005. She became the first woman to win a major open-wheel racing event when she went to Victory Lane in Motegi, Japan, in 2008.
ESPN.com
