The big press conference Thursday afternoon at JR Motorsports with Danica Patrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. and others revealed a few nuggets about Patrick’s future but left other questions.

 

This much is known. As announced earlier, Danica Patrick will make her stock-car debut on Feb. 6 in the ARCA race at Daytona. As for her Nationwide schedule? The team only announced that she’ll compete at Auto Club Speedway on Feb. 20 and Las Vegas on Feb. 27. She’s expected to do up to 13 Nationwide races in 2010. If Daytona will be one of those will likely be determined by Patrick after her performance in the ARCA event. That said, the team is preparing cars for her as if she will compete in that event.

 

 As for the other remaining races, Patrick said she could run some Nationwide races after the Indianapolis 500 in May. That’s a focus _ along with her Izod IndyCar ride. She’ll likely do the Nationwide races after the IndyCar season in early October, meaning she likely will compete at Auto Club Speedway on Oct. 9, Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Oct. 15, Gateway on Oct. 23, Texas Motor Speedway on Nov. 16, Phoenix on Nov. 13 and Homestead on Nov. 20.

 

 

As for tracks you MIGHT see Patrick during the IndyCar season, I wouldn’t be surprised for her to run June 26 at New Hampshire, Chicagoland on July 9, and July 31 at Iowa, among about four or so during the season.

 

 

One thing we did find out was that Patrick tested a Nationwide car last week at the Disney World oval in Florida where the IRL used to race. She impressed herself and the folks at JR Motorsports with how she performed.

 

 

“We definitely got to get her as much seat time,’’ said crew chief Tony Eury Jr. of the test last week with Danica and Kelly Bires. “It is a totally different world. She did awesome. I think everybody was kind of skeptical, “OK, let’s see how big a test this is going to be.’ And I don’t think it’s going to be a big problem. She got up to speed like she needed to. She understood the car very well. It’s just a matter of the lingo between us. She calls it oversteer and understeer and I call it tight and loose. That’s the kind of things we need to work through. I think I need to change more than she does.

 

 

Said Danica of the test: “I really enjoyed the car at Orlando. I had a lot of fun. I thought that the car really responded to driver input very well and like Tony said there are some language barriers. He did a really good job with me. I was rattling off my normal way of describing things and he completely understood it. The first two changes were like obvious and good. Then we just ran through a bunch of stuff to give myself a feeling in the car. It was a great thing. I want to get comfortable. I want to start to feel like I can focus on certain things. I think initially when you get in the car when it’s new, you’re just kind of trying to absorb it all. Things feel hectic. Coming into pit lane feels hectic. Getting into the pit box feels hectic. Restarts feel hectic. And that’s what I don’t want. I want to get to the point where I can focus on individual things and make them better, which means that the driving needs to be very easy and natural. That’s going to take time. I don’t think there’s any way to know how much time it’s going to take. It’s really just a matter of more time in the car.’’

 

 

Danica is scheduled to take part in the ARCA test at Daytona on Friday-Sunday but the weather looks bad for Friday so cars might not even get on the track with the forecast calling for 80 percent chance of rain that day. Saturday calls for only a 20 percent chance of rain in Daytona.

 

 

Also, it was mentioned that the team might test at Pikes Peak in Colorado, something I’d heard a while ago, but the weather has not been cooperative. Also, as expected, the team likely will have her test at a track or two within a short drive of the Charlotte, N.C., area and there are plenty of small tracks in this area for that.

 

 

It is about getting her time in the car.

 

 

One thing that stood out was how she responded to a question I asked. While it’s hard to determine what will happen in two years, she could be moving up to Cup after 2011 if everything goes well. With her desire to win the Indy 500 and the schedule for Indy and Charlotte making it extremely difficult to run the double, she might only have two years left to win an Indy 500. I asked her what she thought about that. This is what she said:

 

 

“It will be my decision. There seems to usually to be the option to do the double kind of thing, which a couple of people have done. Every time in the back of my mind, and I haven’t really said this before, I’m like I know how I am going into that month or two weeks as it is now and how challenging it is and I look at people who come for just the race thinking, “You just don’t have as good a chance.’ Why would I want to do it if I wouldn’t have as good a chance. It’s really cheating the biggest race in the world. I don’t know. I also think it’s a race that eludes some of the best drivers. Michael Andretti (her team owner in IndyCar) for instance. He’s led so many laps there, been so good … and hasn’t won. I think it’s not to say that I wasn’t good there. I think at this point in time you could say that I have been. So I get two more opportunities if I choose to not continue down that road. I’d be OK with that.’’

 

 

What struck me was a couple of things. One, her comment about those who just come in to do the double face a greater uphill climb to winning is almost exactly what Tony Stewart earlier this year. He noted if he ever drove at Indy again to do the double, he’d want to run part of the IRL scheduled leading up to Indy to get better acquainted with the cars and the racing. No. 2, was how Danica said she’d be OK with not having a chance at Indy again. This is someone who has said often and even said earlier in the press conference about how she wants to win the Indy 500. For her to possibly give up that chances shows how committed to this. Yes, you can say this is a marketing ploy or a way to capitalize on her popularity and bring in extra money _ and yes it is _ but if she’s willing to limit the number of chances to win what she calls the biggest race in the world, then that suggests this NASCAR thing is no gimmick and if things go well one would expect her to move to Cup.

 

 

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A few other things from Thursday’s press conference.

 

 

Got the chance to talk to Tony Eury Sr., competition director at JR Motorsports. He was asked about Kelly Bires and if restarts will be a problem with him as they were with Brad Keselowski, the team’s former driver. This is what Eury Sr. had to say about Keselowski’s ability on restarts.

 

 

“These past two years restarts have hurt us worse than anything that we did. It was a constant battle. We could pull our notes out for the races and it’s always something on the race about a restart. Every week. Brad knew it. He tried and tried to work on it, tried to get better. I don’t know, he struggled a little bit.

 

 

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. on first meeting Danica Patrick. It came a few years back for a video shoot for Jay-Z.

 

 

“We really kind of got a chance to get to know each other when we did the Jay-Z video at Monaco. That was a real weird experience. I had never been to Europe. They asked me if I wanted to go and if I wanted to go I had to get right on a plane after the New Hampshire race and fly eight hours and as soon as I got off the plane I would have to start working like a 30-hour day shooting that thing. I couldn’t sleep. I was so excited. So nervous. Scared to meet Jay-Z. Nervous to meet Jay-Z and all that. Will Beyonce be there?

 

 

“We had dinner with them and afterwards (Patrick) and our group hung out and we were able to really kick back and we had to ride together to and from each of the sets and we were able to bond and joke around and be ourselves. It was really a low-pressure situation. The hard part was just trying to stay awake for the shoot. It was a rough trip on that regard. I really enjoyed getting to know her. What I like about Danica is she’s got confidence about herself. She knows what her realistic chances are. She seems to have a good grip on reality and what’s happening around her. Nothing weird comes out of her mouth. She doesn’t say anything that sort of makes you take a second look. She seems to understand this situation, what the magnitude of this is for her. It will be a helluva challenge. I like her determination and drive to want to do it. So I’m excited about it.’’