Report: Danica to Hendrick, Dale Jr to move to JR Motorsports?-UPDATED
36 Comments Published June 29th, 2009 in NASCAR News
UPDATE:
Officials at Roush Fenway Racing and Hendrick Motorsports spent part of Sunday putting down another Danica Patrick rumor. This one, from an Internet blogger, implied that the companies are fighting over the IndyCar driver. The story offered no proof, only that “sources” have said that Rick Hendrick apparently has beaten Jack Roush, and that Patrick will replace Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Team owner Jack Roush hasn’t ruled her out as a potential driver. In his scenario, though, she’d spend a year or two in a lower-level series before trying Cup. Patrick has said she wants to start at the top of the next series if she leaves the Indy Racing League.”
Hendrick Motorsports spokesman Jesse Essex took great exception to the story. “There is absolutely no truth to it,” he said. “We were not given an opportunity to comment on the story prior to it being published. If we had, we would have said there’s absolutely nothing to it. Nothing at all.”
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If Danica Patrick does jump from the Indy Racing League to NASCAR, as increasingly appears likely, the battle for her, according to sources close to the negotiations, is down to car owners Rick Hendrick, of Chevrolet, and Jack Roush, of Ford. According to these sources, Hendrick and General Motors’ Chevrolet division are now suddenly the heavy favorites to sign Patrick. And the key would apparently be Hendrick’s willingness to put her in a Sprint Cup ride for the full 2010 season.
Roush has said he would like to see her run some NASCAR Nationwide and/or Truck events, along with six or seven Cup events, to get her accustomed to stock car racing. Hendrick reportedly is willing to go further. Patrick might take Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s spot on Hendrick’s official four-team Cup roster, with Earnhardt moving to an expanded JR Motorsports operation.
JR Motorsports, Earnhardt’s own operation, run in partnership with Hendrick, would thus be stepping up to a full Cup program; Hendrick has already been talking with Talladega winner Brad Keselowski about Keselowski’s future in NASCAR, with indications he could get a Cup ride with an expanded JR Motorsports venture, with Hendrick engines and Hendrick engineering. It is not clear how far along any Patrick-IMG-Hendrick negotiations have gone, but sources tell mikemulhern.net that the Patrick-Hendrick deal is very close to being a ‘done deal.’
We’re hearing it’s more likely that Dale Earnhardt, Jr would move to JR Motorsports with Hendrick backing than Danica going to Hendrick.
It doesn’t make sense for her to jump in the deep end like that. She needs some Nationwide experience first.
she is going to get picked on sooo bad. any female that has ever been in nascar has got beat on badly. i would love to see a girl in nascar that could win but i dont see it happening in my lifetime
The key word here is “might”. This is only the opinion of the author of this article. However, Jr might want to leave on his own. Gordon might be ready to retire also. His back is killing him.
Once again the Key Phrase in this article is “MikeMulhern.net”
Like Montoya said she has no clue what she would be getting into…Juan has got better but he still struggles,Hendrick would be a fool to put her in a cup car and I dont think he’s really that dumb to have 1 of his cars torn up 36 races a year thats if she could even make the races.
She def should try Nationwide first. No recent Indy car driver has done that great in Cup right from the start. They ran Scott Speed in Arca, Trucks and Nationwide and that would be her best bet. I think Tont Stewart should talk to her an explain to her what she’s getting into. He has driven every kind of car, so she would be smart to listen to him.
This could be Hendrick second huge mistake. Danica is only good for one thing and that is attracting sponsorship. If jr does get the bump and goes to Jr Motorsports, he would pretty much be done. I dont think he can negotiate everything that an owner needs to be on top of and focus on driving. Smoke is making it look easy but Im sure it’s not.
[quote comment="53783"]This could be Hendrick second huge mistake. Danica is only good for one thing and that is attracting sponsorship. If jr does get the bump and goes to Jr Motorsports, he would pretty much be done. I dont think he can negotiate everything that an owner needs to be on top of and focus on driving. Smoke is making it look easy but Im sure it’s not.[/quote]
Second huge mistake? what because Jr is having a bad 2nd year he had a good year last year,things happen sometimes and a driver has a bad year I mean if thats your point kyle busch isnt doing so hot either…yeah a few wins but he’s been struggling lately he might miss the chase too.
As expected, it’s already been denied by HMS
Lee,
Like I have always said Jr is an average driver, is he having a bad year this year or is it that he had an exceptional year last year and now he is back to his norm. Either way your are 100% right Kyle is doing bad and there is a very good chance he could miss the chase, lol but do you realize the difference in what you said. Kyle is having a horrible year and he is still at this point in the chase and has multiple wins, jr is having a horrible season and he is barely in the top 20 in points lol lol.
danica will prob. do better than jr in that ride! they should kick him out!
lee….kyle will not miss the chase…move on
[quote comment="53795"]lee….kyle will not miss the chase…move on[/quote]
I didnt say he would miss the chase learn how to read.
you people are crazy,just some more things to drop this sport another notch,not only would hendrick be insane to lose the sponsors that jr. can attract but as another writer said on this blog ,without the support of government motors any more,and a rookie female driver to rip up every car she gets in .the only thing positive on this SEX SELLS!!! this sport is getting so ridiculous,everyone should boycott this crap and watch it on tv if they need to watch a bunch of overpaid crybabys all day PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR HOME TRACKS !!!!
I don’t believe for a minute that NASCAR would just let her jump right into a cup car, they may put her in a truck but I doubt it.
I don’t think the guys in NASCAR have the stones to let a chick run with them, Erin Crocker done a hell of a job in ARCA but in Trucks they used her like a ping pong ball, and She never got a decent shot at Nationwide.
At the end of last year there were stores about Mike Wallace’s daughter Chrissy running a full year in the Trucks are part-time in the Nationwide, but I haven’t heard a word about her this year I haven’t even heard her name.
danika is good to look at but not in a cup car!
Obviously Jr. isn’t much of a driver, but even he would do better than Danica. She can hardly run half way decent some of the best equipment in IRL with a field half the size and half of that half running every race (there are a lot of underfunded one off race teams). as was stated before, the only thing she would be good for is sponsorship and souvenir buyers who would buy all the torn up parts (all the wrecks would be someone else’s fault of course though)
Danica in NASCAR : About the only thing ability wise is the fact that JR and Danica can BOTH draw SPONSORS.I would rate them both as top 10′ers.ability wise as compared to who their competition will be.
Who else other than HMS or ROUSH would she consider???
Are you trying to compare DRIVING ABILITY or MAKING MONEY????
Tooo bad we do not have the IROC series any more Then WE WOULD SEE
[quote comment="53808"]Who else other than HMS or ROUSH would she consider???
Tooo bad we do not have the IROC series any more Then WE WOULD SEE[/quote]
She isn’t considering any teams, it’s just Mike Mulhern making stuff up. There is a reason he is no longer a reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal, because he just flat out makes stuff up, and trys to pass it off as “real”.
I’m going to call his “Danica to NASCAR” story for next week already, next week the team will be Stewart-Haas Racing. Why do I say that? Because Danica said on her Twitter account that Smoke had a good run today, and Mike will translate that into “Sources are saying that Danica has signed with SHR”… lmfao
As far as the IROC series, that was always and will always be remembered as a joke. Drivers who had experience in full-fendered tin-tops always had an advantage over the open-wheel guys. The only true International Race of Champions, is the ROC & Nationscup held in Europe each winter.
[quote comment="53813"][quote comment="53808"]Who else other than HMS or ROUSH would she consider???
Tooo bad we do not have the IROC series any more Then WE WOULD SEE[/quote]
She isn’t considering any teams, it’s just Mike Mulhern making stuff up. There is a reason he is no longer a reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal, because he just flat out makes stuff up, and trys to pass it off as “real”.
I’m going to call his “Danica to NASCAR” story for next week already, next week the team will be Stewart-Haas Racing. Why do I say that? Because Danica said on her Twitter account that Smoke had a good run today, and Mike will translate that into “Sources are saying that Danica has signed with SHR”… lmfao
As far as the IROC series, that was always and will always be remembered as a joke. Drivers who had experience in full-fendered tin-tops always had an advantage over the open-wheel guys. The only true International Race of Champions, is the ROC & Nationscup held in Europe each winter.[/quote]
I agree with you as far as the danica crap,but as for the IROC and the ROC…flip flop it cup drivers only run 2 road courses a year so wouldnt the open-wheel guys have the advantage then same thing huh…the fact is most americans like me DONT give a crap about IRL or F1 sorry but its true.
Lee: Not too HAPPY about WHAT NASCRAP has turned into. Yes except for a few Canadian and Mexican Races it is Still a USA deal .As far as Globally goes F-1 rules . Why do you suppose NASCAR never went back to JAPAN??
How many FANS do you think NASCAR has lost in past few years?
No matter which team she went to that team is going to struggle. I think she needs to win more races in indy cars before she tries stock cars.
So if Jr goe’s to Jr Motorsports he will do crappy again cause he will have Eury Jr back as CC again…
It would be a sad day when a popular, no talent female replaces an overrated guy like Jr. I believe anything could happen at this point. You know Big Rick is looking at all those $$$ having both of them under contract.
[quote comment="53816"][quote comment="53813"][quote comment="53808"]Who else other than HMS or ROUSH would she consider???
Tooo bad we do not have the IROC series any more Then WE WOULD SEE[/quote]
She isn’t considering any teams, it’s just Mike Mulhern making stuff up. There is a reason he is no longer a reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal, because he just flat out makes stuff up, and trys to pass it off as “real”.
I’m going to call his “Danica to NASCAR” story for next week already, next week the team will be Stewart-Haas Racing. Why do I say that? Because Danica said on her Twitter account that Smoke had a good run today, and Mike will translate that into “Sources are saying that Danica has signed with SHR”… lmfao
As far as the IROC series, that was always and will always be remembered as a joke. Drivers who had experience in full-fendered tin-tops always had an advantage over the open-wheel guys. The only true International Race of Champions, is the ROC & Nationscup held in Europe each winter.[/quote]
I agree with you as far as the danica crap,but as for the IROC and the ROC…flip flop it cup drivers only run 2 road courses a year so wouldnt the open-wheel guys have the advantage then same thing huh…the fact is most americans like me DONT give a crap about IRL or F1 sorry but its true.[/quote]
The ROC isn’t ran on a road-course, it’s ran on a Glorified Go-Kart track. And most of the NASCAR drivers spend a lot of time at the Go-Kart tracks.
It’s kinda funny what you say though, because outside of the US and Southern Canada, most of the world doesn’t give a crap about the Tin-Top Taxi-cab racing that we have here.
And actually FWIW The open-wheel guys usually have a pretty hard time in the ROC too, Rally guys usually do pretty good though.
Ok well if you look at any drive from any part in Nascars History you’ll see that all of them struggled look at Earnhardt sr. he never won the Daytona 500 until 98. All drivers struggle. Now for the Danica, I think if she’s going to join Nascar they should put her in a full time ride simply because everyone who has had to run in Nationwide and the trucks has been bounced around and never given a full time ride I think she’ll be quick to learn yea her IRL racing hasnt been that spectacular but anyone who sign’s her is going to get rich quick. IROC was cool, it showed who had real talent cars evenly matched and all.
Danica needs to be successful in the IRL 1st.
She hasn’t done much of anything vs 22 other people.
How well could she possible do vs 42 other people, in a big heavy car.
Dario is a much better driver and he didn’t do much of anything last year.
He has already won 2 races this year in the IRL.
These rumors kill me…1st she really isnt worth a crap as a driver 2nd rick isnt dumb enough to offer a cup ride to a driver whose never been in a so called stock car 3rd NASCAR wouldnt allow it anyway even if they did after a few races they would be telling her come back when you learn to drive go start with a late model somewhere maybe…NASCAR has stopped drivers before from driving or driving at certain tracks and I think they would do the same to her.
[quote comment="53830"][quote comment="53816"][quote comment="53813"][quote comment="53808"]Who else other than HMS or ROUSH would she consider???
Tooo bad we do not have the IROC series any more Then WE WOULD SEE[/quote]
She isn’t considering any teams, it’s just Mike Mulhern making stuff up. There is a reason he is no longer a reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal, because he just flat out makes stuff up, and trys to pass it off as “real”.
I’m going to call his “Danica to NASCAR” story for next week already, next week the team will be Stewart-Haas Racing. Why do I say that? Because Danica said on her Twitter account that Smoke had a good run today, and Mike will translate that into “Sources are saying that Danica has signed with SHR”… lmfao
As far as the IROC series, that was always and will always be remembered as a joke. Drivers who had experience in full-fendered tin-tops always had an advantage over the open-wheel guys. The only true International Race of Champions, is the ROC & Nationscup held in Europe each winter.[/quote]
I agree with you as far as the danica crap,but as for the IROC and the ROC…flip flop it cup drivers only run 2 road courses a year so wouldnt the open-wheel guys have the advantage then same thing huh…the fact is most americans like me DONT give a crap about IRL or F1 sorry but its true.[/quote]
The ROC isn’t ran on a road-course, it’s ran on a Glorified Go-Kart track. And most of the NASCAR drivers spend a lot of time at the Go-Kart tracks.
It’s kinda funny what you say though, because outside of the US and Southern Canada, most of the world doesn’t give a crap about the Tin-Top Taxi-cab racing that we have here.
And actually FWIW The open-wheel guys usually have a pretty hard time in the ROC too, Rally guys usually do pretty good though.[/quote]
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Here we go again getting an education from a glorified Mr. Know It All.
The last thing NASCAR needs is Danica. She’d be begging to go back to her cushy IRL job before the Daytona 500 was over.
[quote comment="53868"][quote comment="53830"][quote comment="53816"][quote comment="53813"][quote comment="53808"]Who else other than HMS or ROUSH would she consider???
Tooo bad we do not have the IROC series any more Then WE WOULD SEE[/quote]
She isn’t considering any teams, it’s just Mike Mulhern making stuff up. There is a reason he is no longer a reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal, because he just flat out makes stuff up, and trys to pass it off as “real”.
I’m going to call his “Danica to NASCAR” story for next week already, next week the team will be Stewart-Haas Racing. Why do I say that? Because Danica said on her Twitter account that Smoke had a good run today, and Mike will translate that into “Sources are saying that Danica has signed with SHR”… lmfao
As far as the IROC series, that was always and will always be remembered as a joke. Drivers who had experience in full-fendered tin-tops always had an advantage over the open-wheel guys. The only true International Race of Champions, is the ROC & Nationscup held in Europe each winter.[/quote]
I agree with you as far as the danica crap,but as for the IROC and the ROC…flip flop it cup drivers only run 2 road courses a year so wouldnt the open-wheel guys have the advantage then same thing huh…the fact is most americans like me DONT give a crap about IRL or F1 sorry but its true.[/quote]
The ROC isn’t ran on a road-course, it’s ran on a Glorified Go-Kart track. And most of the NASCAR drivers spend a lot of time at the Go-Kart tracks.
It’s kinda funny what you say though, because outside of the US and Southern Canada, most of the world doesn’t give a crap about the Tin-Top Taxi-cab racing that we have here.
And actually FWIW The open-wheel guys usually have a pretty hard time in the ROC too, Rally guys usually do pretty good though.[/quote]
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Here we go again getting an education from a glorified Mr. Know It All.[/quote]
Not my fault that a lot of people on here are ignorant to forms of motorsports that require more skill then driving in a circle.
[quote comment="53882"][quote comment="53868"][quote comment="53830"][quote comment="53816"][quote comment="53813"][quote comment="53808"]Who else other than HMS or ROUSH would she consider???
Tooo bad we do not have the IROC series any more Then WE WOULD SEE[/quote]
She isn’t considering any teams, it’s just Mike Mulhern making stuff up. There is a reason he is no longer a reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal, because he just flat out makes stuff up, and trys to pass it off as “real”.
I’m going to call his “Danica to NASCAR” story for next week already, next week the team will be Stewart-Haas Racing. Why do I say that? Because Danica said on her Twitter account that Smoke had a good run today, and Mike will translate that into “Sources are saying that Danica has signed with SHR”… lmfao
As far as the IROC series, that was always and will always be remembered as a joke. Drivers who had experience in full-fendered tin-tops always had an advantage over the open-wheel guys. The only true International Race of Champions, is the ROC & Nationscup held in Europe each winter.[/quote]
I agree with you as far as the danica crap,but as for the IROC and the ROC…flip flop it cup drivers only run 2 road courses a year so wouldnt the open-wheel guys have the advantage then same thing huh…the fact is most americans like me DONT give a crap about IRL or F1 sorry but its true.[/quote]
The ROC isn’t ran on a road-course, it’s ran on a Glorified Go-Kart track. And most of the NASCAR drivers spend a lot of time at the Go-Kart tracks.
It’s kinda funny what you say though, because outside of the US and Southern Canada, most of the world doesn’t give a crap about the Tin-Top Taxi-cab racing that we have here.
And actually FWIW The open-wheel guys usually have a pretty hard time in the ROC too, Rally guys usually do pretty good though.[/quote]
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Here we go again getting an education from a glorified Mr. Know It All.[/quote]
Not my fault that a lot of people on here are ignorant to forms of motorsports that require more skill then driving in a circle.[/quote]
Ignorant? look kid I’ve been watching motorsports for 30 years I’m sure I know a hell of alot more about racing than you,you can blah blah blah all you want but the fact is just about everything you know is from reading or watching old tapes,if you dont like nascar or so called stock car racing etc. then why you hear spewing your garbage a lot of these so called ignorant people have a choice as to what they want to watch thats not for you to decide.
put danica in the car… shut up and drive.
if she does better than Jr? so be it, met her drive… it will be better than
hearing all the guys whining ALL the time
Lee where did I ever say I didn’t like Stockcar Racing? As far as NASCAR, that’s a different topic all together, the sanctioning body can fold tomorrow for all I care. Like I’ve said before, NASCAR is stockcar racing, but Stockcar Racing is not NASCAR.
[quote comment="53891"]Lee where did I ever say I didn’t like Stockcar Racing? As far as NASCAR, that’s a different topic all together, the sanctioning body can fold tomorrow for all I care. Like I’ve said before, NASCAR is stockcar racing, but Stockcar Racing is not NASCAR.[/quote]
I can agree I dont care about the santioning body or NASCAR that much anymore for that matter,when I said stock car racing etc. I was meaning what I watch here in Ky and southern Indiana,late models,dirt late models,modifeds etc….I just use the term stock car racing if you know what I mean.
[quote comment="53806"]danika is good to look at but not in a cup car![/quote]
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She just might surprise everyone cutting her down, it’s a wait and see situation…