Danica Patrick Refuses to Answer Questions on Future

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Danica Patrick climbed out of her race car Friday afternoon, all smiles about a solid seventh-place qualifying effort for Saturday's IndyCar season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and liking her chances about a career-best ranking (fifth) in the standings.

She joked with reporters about missing her public relations spokeswoman and spoke earnestly of her Andretti Green Racing team's pressing need to find more speed.

Just don't ask her about the big elephant on pit road -- her contract status and whether she plans to give NASCAR a go.

When asked simply if she had hoped to be able to announce something by now, Patrick pointed her finger and said, "Why do you gotta end it like that?'' abruptly turned her back on the group of a half-dozen reporters and stormed away.

The interviews were over. The speculation will continue.

Ironically, while Patrick, 27, may not choose to speak about her future this weekend -- the last race of the IndyCar schedule -- others are saying a lot. More than 3,000 miles away at California Speedway her future was still generating buzz in the NASCAR garage.

The rumors grow each week -- some more wild than others, like a recent report that Patrick was demanding $8 million for eight stock car starts.

There have been other more plausible possibilities.

Two-time NASCAR champ Tony Stewart has had several discussions with Patrick about her career and "guaranteed" the NASCAR press that Patrick will be in some sort of a stock car next season.

Multiple reports from the IndyCar side promise she has re-signed with Andretti Green for an additional three seasons, but even that hasn't been formally announced.

This week NASCAR Sprint Cup driver/owner Michael Waltrip threw his hat in the ring, saying he'd love to speak with Patrick about fielding a car for her.

And NASCAR champion car owner Rick Hendrick told the the Los Angeles Times that Patrick "would help our sport" should she come to NASCAR. He was receptive to possibly fielding a car or truck for Patrick in a few races -- perhaps in conjunction with Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports team in the Nationwide Series. But, Hendrick said, he had not had any formal talks with Patrick.

The most likely scenario is that Patrick will continue to do a full IndyCar Series schedule in 2010 while testing in a stock car and perhaps making a few starts in the developmental Nationwide, ARCA or Camping World Truck series as her open-wheel schedule permits.

"It boils down to seat time,'' three-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson said Friday from California.
"Hit walls, tear up equipment, make mistakes. You have to go through that. You cannot shortcut that aspect. You have to go through those experiences to learn."
-- Jimmie Johnson
"Just not to be in a hurry, drive anything with a body on it: ARCA, Truck, Nationwide, Cup. It is tough because she is obviously going to have a big spotlight on her.

"Hit walls, tear up equipment, make mistakes. You have to go through that. You cannot shortcut that aspect. It doesn't matter if you are Juan Pablo who has been an F-1 driver coming in, or a guy coming from a local short track. You have to go through those experiences to learn."

Patrick is the first woman to win an IndyCar race (Japan, 2008) and the first to lead laps in the Indianapolis 500. She has always said it is her dream to win the Indy 500 and so it makes sense that she capitalize on those odds with a strong team like AGR.

Despite the fact AGR may endure its first winless season, Patrick has been the class of the non-Penske, non-Ganassi field. Her fifth-place rank in the standings entering Saturday's race is the best for any American driver in the series as well as tops in her five-year career.

Her peak in the open-wheel ranks also coincides with major marketing success. She is one of the most recognizable athletes in the country - a huge commercial and sponsorship hit - and that makes her attractive to America's most popular form of racing: NASCAR. And vice versa.

Interestingly, while it would seem like a good idea to try both forms of motorsport to ease her way into an eventual NASCAR ride, former open-wheel champion Juan Pablo Montoya cautioned against such an approach on Friday.

"I wouldn't be driving both cars to be honest,'' said Montoya, the 2000 Indy 500 winner and who is currently ranked third in the Sprint Cup championship battle.

"I wouldn't do it because they drive so different. You're going to get comfortable in one thing, and then you're going to make it to the other thing, and every time it's going to be like night and day. When I drive the 24 Hours (Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona) and I get to Daytona it feels really weird, and I've been driving stock cars for three years now.

"I do two test days and the race and come back for the (Daytona) 500 and it feels really weird to drive again. So, I wouldn't."

Patrick has been getting lots of advice - some solicited, some not - but until she's ready to announce her plans the Danica sweepstakes will get more frenzied. The speculation will continue, the rumors will grow. The good news for Patrick, is that people care enough to ask the questions.

Notes and Quotes

The three IndyCar championship contenders dominated the practice speed charts and equaled the feat during qualifying.

Dario Franchitti cut his Target Ganassi teammate and championship leader Scott Dixon's advantage to four points by winning the pole position in the No. 10 Target car. Dixon will start alongside Franchitti, and Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe, who is eight points behind Dixon, will start third.

"Obviously we're pretty happy with what we managed to achieve there. Tomorrow the hard work begins,'' said Franchitti, who is trying to win his second consecutive IRL title, sandwiched around a brief foray into NASCAR. The Scottish native won the IndyCar Series championship in 2007, then left open-wheel for NASCAR last season, before returning back to the IRL circuit this year.

Team Penske driver Helio Castroneves had to use a back-up car for qualifying after crashing between Turns 1 and 2 during the afternoon practice session. Castroneves said the left rear suspension collapsed: "When you have three wheels, normally, it doesn't do well.''

Castroneves, who earned his third Indy 500 win this year, rallied to qualify 11th in the backup.