NASCAR Cup Series

Danica still hoping to race Indy 500

Published Sep. 7, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

Danica Patrick will have a full plate of racing in 2013 – including double duty with a possible return to the Indy 500 in May.

“I would like to if it’s with the right team,” Patrick said. “If it’s not there’s no point for me. I feel like I would still be able to get into a seat and get comfortable with the amount of practice time there is at Indy and have a shot to win the race. But if I don’t have a shot to win the race or don’t feel like it’s a real opportunity, I’m not going to do it.

“We’re working on it. I’d like to do it if we can.”

Patrick’s primary responsibility will be competing full-time in the Sprint Cup Series for Stewart/Haas Racing with GoDaddy.com as the primary sponsor for the majority of races. The 30-year-old Roscoe, Ill. native has five Cup starts this season. Her best finish is 29th at both Bristol and Atlanta Motor Speedways.

Patrick is competing in her first full-time season on the Nationwide Series tour and is 10th in the point standings. She made her debut at Daytona International Speedway in 2010. She scored her first and only top-five finish at Las Vegas last year.

While Cup will take precedence in 2013, Patrick hopes to continue a limited schedule in NNS – most likely with her current team JR Motorsports.

“I would like to run some Nationwide races next year for sure,” Patrick said. “For me, I’d like to run the big tracks because I think they definitely relate the closest — Daytona and Talladega. Then I’d like to run some of the tracks that are a little bit more challenging and difficult, the tracks that benefit from just pure track time.

“I definitely know coming away from some of these tracks like Darlington I felt there were a lot of similarities between the Nationwide race and then the Cup race. Things like that, I think, are good for me to run next year and get that extra track time. Obviously, it’s a matter of figuring out what’s going to work and sponsorship, but I would like to run some.”

NOTE: One name mentioned to fill the void at JRM is Ryan Truex, brother of Martin Truex Jr. Sources say Truex’s sponsor, Grime Boss, could be a possibility to support his Nationwide program next year.