Rick Hendrick said Sunday he has no deal to bring IndyCar superstar Danica Patrick to NASCAR, and there’s no certainty she’ll even be driving stock cars next season. “I just think that they are not even close to making a decision on whether to even do it this year or next year,” Hendrick said of Patrick and her representatives at IMG. “You never know until it’s done. You never know until it’s signed. And anybody can change their mind. When you get down to the nitty gritty of any deal, it’s always complicated. There can always be someone who comes back and says `I can’t do it because of this.’ So until it’s done, it’s not done. And that’s the honest truth.”

Patrick is reportedly in the final stages of a contract that would partner her on a limited Nationwide Series schedule with JR Motorsports, the team owned by both Hendrick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. But speaking before Sunday’s race at Phoenix International Raceway, Hendrick called the reports “premature” and insisted nothing is imminent. “I think everything is an option, and it’s just too early to really comment on it,” he said. “I can’t give you anything concrete, because there isn’t anything concrete right now. Nothing is imminent until it’s signed. Too many things can happen.”

Hendrick, who just returned from a weeklong vacation in Israel, said there have been no new developments in talks with Patrick and that IndyCar remains her first priority. Existing contracts she has in that series could also complicate a potential venture into NASCAR. Patrick has said very little about her 2010 plans, including an apparent contract extension to stay with Andretti Green Racing. Part of that holdup is a pending change of team ownership, which is expected to be transferred solely to Michael Andretti.

Associated Press