She will run a limited schedule in the Nationwide series

Danica Patrick will drive for Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s NASCAR Nationwide Series team in 2010, a source close to the situation told Sporting News on Monday. The formal announcement will come Tuesday in Phoenix, home of GoDaddy, which will sponsor her car. The announcement will end months of speculation about whether Patrick would race in NASCAR.

She will run a limited schedule in the Nationwide series and will run all 18 races in the IndyCar series. Details that will be announced today and in the weeks to come include Patrick’s schedule, car number and crew chief.

Patrick, 27, the only woman to win an IndyCar race, is expected to make her Nationwide debut in the season-opening event Feb. 13 in Daytona Beach, Fla., although she could make her stock car debut in an earlier ARCA series race. Patrick never has raced a stock car. She tested a Nationwide series car in 2002 before deciding to race in the IndyCar series.

Kelley Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s sister, manages the day-to-day operations of JR Motorsports and recently became a part owner of the company. She will be on hand for Tuesday’s announcement but Dale Earnhardt Jr. will not, the source said. Other part owners are Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports; and Tony Eury Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s cousin and former crew chief.

In interviews earlier this year, the owner or president of every major NASCAR team told Sporting News they’d be interested in hiring Patrick but that it would be crucial for her to first learn to drive a stock car in a lower level series before attempting to race at the Sprint Cup level. That’s the course Patrick appears to be taking.

Patrick frequently has said her first priority in NASCAR racing would be to sign with a competitive team. With JR Motorsports, she will have arguably the best equipment in the sport. Hendrick Motorsports—the most dominant team in NASCAR this decade—builds the cars for JR Motorsports.

source: sporting news NASCAR