SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Danica Patrick ended months of skirting questions about her future Thursday by revealing plans to leave IndyCar in 2012 to race a full Nationwide season for JR Motorsports and a part-time Sprint Cup schedule with Stewart-Haas Racing.
The first woman to win an IndyCar race (Japan in 2008), Patrick said she plans to run from eight to 10 Sprint Cup races with Stewart-Haas, with an eye on a full season in 2013.
Patrick, 12th in the IndyCar standings, said she would like to race at the Daytona 500, though the team hasn’t mapped out where she would start or which races would fill out the schedule this year. She has run 20 races in two years with JR Motorsports and has five more on the schedule this season. And Patrick didn’t rule out another run at the Indianapolis 500.
“If it was about money, I’d have gone a long time ago,” Patrick said. “I just go where my heart tells me, where my gut tells me to go, where I’m enjoying my life the most, where I feel like I can have the most success. I’ve truly enjoyed my experience in NASCAR, to the point that I want to do it full time.”
The Associated Press
