Danica Patrick made history last week as the first woman to win the pole at the Daytona 500 and the driver will get her first true taste of the track on Saturday as she races in the Feb. 23 Nationwide Series opener at Daytona International Speedway.
According to ESPN.com, Patrick will race for Turner Scott Motorsports in the Nationwide opener despite moving to the Sprint Cup full time. Patrick starred on the Nationwide series last year and was named the most popular driver on the circuit.
Patrick has all the attention at Daytona this week after her historic pole win and she said that her sponsor GoDaddy.com has given her the opportunity to be in the No. 34 Chevrolet for the DRIVE4COPD 300. On the Sprint Cup circuit Patrick is driving for Stewart-Haas Racing and it is possible she could drive in 10 races for TSM, with five being more likely.
"I feel we have a chance to win [Daytona], and that has me excited,'' Patrick said during Thursday's media day.
Patrick made news for her win, btu she also dominated headlines due to her love life. Patrick is dating fellow Sprint Cup rookie Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and that was all reporters could ask about last week before the pole. The two will be driving in a 36-race season and will be going up against eachother for rookie of the year.
"You know it's really a shame that the two-car tandem is probably not going to work so much [due to NASCAR rule changes], because that really kills our joke material," Brad Keselowski said, according to ESPN.com.
Stenhouse has won two straight Nationwide championships and is looked at as a star in the making for NASCAR. The wins and the relationship thrusted him into the spotlight, a place his girlfriend has been since coming onto the professional scene in 2005.
"A while back, he said something about not wanting to have people looking at him or staring at him," Patrick said. "I told him, 'You'd better get used to that, because there's gonna be a lot of people looking at you.' He said, 'They'll be looking at you.' I said, 'No, they're not. They're gonna be looking at you as well.'"
Patrick had the best finish of her career after coming in 10th in the points standings and she finished in the top 10 four different times during the season. She raced in 10 Sprint Cup events last year, but will full time now on the top racing circuit.