NASCAR: Danica Patrick about to sign a NASCAR deal with JR Motorsports

Months of speculation may be coming to an end, and it could be a matter of days before IndyCar phenom Danica Patrick has signed a deal to race in NASCAR.

Danica Patrick, the only woman to have won an IndyCar race (Japan –last year) has been seen talking with many NASCAR teams, but, according to ESPN, her agents have been close to signing a two-year deal with JR Motorsports to run in the Nationwide Series. JRM is owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and is affiliated with Hendrick Motorsports, just as Stewart Haas Racing. HMS is the most powerful team in NASCAR.

Late on Wednesday evening Mike Davis, a JR Motorsports spokesman, issued a reaction on Twitter, “Discussions w/ Danica have been just that--discussions. Nothing new. We feel fortunate to be 1 of the teams she's talked to.”

Danica Patrick has signed a three-year extension with her current IndyCar team, Andretti Green Racing, but, the IRL season has only 17 races leaving Patrick with many opportunities to race in NASCAR. There is speculation that her first race would be the ARCA race in Daytona or Nationwide in California if NASCAR in February.

In October, at the race in California, Earnhardt spoke with Terry Blount and said "I consider myself friends with her. It's interesting to see her interest in NASCAR. It's interesting for all of us. If we're a piece of that and we play a part in that, we'll have to see going down the road.”

After Jimmie Johnson won the California race Hendrick was asked at press conference if Danica was important to NASCAR and replied “I don't think she's important to the future of our sport. I mean, she would add a new dimension, maybe, if she participated in the Nationwide Series or the Cup Series one day.” Ironically he added, “but I don't think that's going to make any difference where NASCAR is.”

Even though a number of leading NASCAR drivers has said it will be difficult to race in two very different series, if she joins an organization under the Hendrick umbrella, that will insure she’ll have the best equipment and the best chance to succeed.

Because she has a three-year contract to remain in IndyCar, should she not succeed in NASCAR, she could remain in the open-wheel series.