Patrick adds intrigue to final IRL race

HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) — Danica Patrick’s moment of clarity came three years ago.

It was the Firestone Indy 400 at Michigan International Speedway, a race made memorable by a meltdown. Patrick ran out of gas with less than three laps to go, climbed from her car and embarked on a foot-stomping, fist-shaking tantrum before taking refuge behind the pit wall.

Never did it cross her mind that people were watching.

“I figured, ‘Oh, the last couple laps of the race are going on — they’re not looking at me right now,’ ” Patrick said. “Then I kind of find out there was a camera focused purely on me.”

From the moment Patrick joined the Indy Racing League, just about all the cameras have been focused on her.

It’ll be that way again this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway when Patrick lines up in the season-ending Firestone Indy 300, where two stories will likely take center stage: The super-tight championship battle between Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe, and Patrick’s plans for 2010 and beyond.

“We feel pretty comfortable — although it’s not our announcement to make and it’s a little bit premature — that she’s going to be with us and she’s going to be with us for a reasonably good term,” said Terry Angstadt, the president of IndyCar’s commercial division.

Patrick has long said she won’t reveal anything until the season ends, although The Indianapolis Star first reported last month that she has agreed to a three-year extension with Andretti Green Racing. Asked twice about that extension last week, Patrick didn’t say a word either time.

There has long been expectations she will eventually make the jump to NASCAR, with reports at one time suggesting she may align with Tony Stewart’s team. Now the rumor mill indicates that Patrick has plenty of other pursuers.

Patrick has said she’s considering “some NASCAR stuff,” but immediately follows that up by insisting that no decisions have been made on what that means.

JR Motorsports said this week it is “exploring the opportunity with Danica Patrick in NASCAR,” citing that Patrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. have a natural link — both are sponsored by GoDaddy.com.

One popular theory is that Patrick will continue with IRL, while also getting some experience in NASCAR’s Nationwide or trucks series. Stewart said he doesn’t expect to see Patrick jump to NASCAR’s big league right away. If Patrick knows the answer, she’s not saying.

“It’s a distraction,” her teammate Tony Kanaan said. “But that’s the price that you pay to be a superstar.”

Depending on how she does Saturday, Patrick could finish as high as fourth in this year’s IRL standings. She’s improved her overall placing every year in IRL, going from 12th in 2005 to ninth in 2006, seventh in 2007 and sixth in 2008.

Patrick does acknowledge this much: She’s paid a high price for fame.

So this year, instead of letting anger and frustration show, she’s made a conscious effort to hide her emotions.

“Getting mad really didn’t give me the best performances,” Patrick said. “I will never know if it affects me out there. I won’t. I feel like I deal with it the best possible way.”