■ 07 December 2009 | 6:56 PM
Danica Patrick will make her long-long-long-awaited announcement about her NASCAR plans at 1 p.m. Eastern Tuesday.
The press release sent out by sponsor GoDaddy.com poses the question: "Will she or won't she?'' in regards to her NASCAR plans. Of course, it comes with a photo of her in a driver's uniform with question marks over it, covering what appears to be the Nationwide logo and a JR Motorsports logo along with a Chevrolet logo shadow on her uniform. Gee, wonder what her decision will be?
Various outlets, citing, unidentified sources state she will indeed be driving for JR. Motorsports next year. Of course, that's not really a shock since all indications were she was headed in that direction a long time ago.
The main questions are how many races will she run, who will be her sponsor or sponsors for those events (will they all be GoDaddy.com or someone else?) and how soon she competes (expected to be ARCA race at Daytona to get track experience and make her eligible for Naitonwide race at Daytona the day before the Daytona 500.
For NASCAR, this will be good news but also could be bothersome. Danica at Daytona will overshadow everything. Everything. People won't be asking Jimmie Johnson as much about winning a fifth title in a row but what he thinks of Danica coming to NASCAR. Dale Jr. won't get as many questions about if he can turn things around this season as to what's it like to be on the same team with Danica? Danica will bring more attention to the sport -- something the sport could use with TV ratings declining. Certainly Daytona International Speedway folks will love the idea of her debut at their track in hopes they might draw a larger crowd for the ARCA and Nationwide events.
It will certainly make Saturday, Feb. 6, a big day for Daytona and stock-car racing. That day -- the day before the Super Bowl -- you will have Sprint Cup qualifying for the Daytona 500, Danica likely making her stock car debut in the ARCA race and then the Bud Shootout that night.
So what Nationwide races would she be available for? Well, here's a look the Nationwide races in 2010 that don't conflict with the Indy Car schedule, so she COULD do any number of these races.
Feb. 13 -- Daytona
Feb. 20 -- Auto Club Speedway (Fontana, Calif.)
Feb. 27 -- Las Vegas
March 20 -- Bristol
April 3 -- Nashville
April 24 -- Talladega
June 5 -- Nashville
June 26 -- New Hampshire
July 9 -- Chicagoland Speedway
July 31 -- Iowa
Aug. 14 -- Michigan
Sept. 10 -- Richmond
Sept. 25 -- Dover
Oct. 9 -- Auto Club Speedway
Oct. 15 -- Lowe's Motor Speedway
Oct. 23 -- Gateway
Nov. 6 -- Texas
Nov. 13 -- Phoenix
Nov. 20 -- Homestead