Danica Patrick will not be moving anywhere anytime soon. The NASCAR Sprint Cup series’ only fulltime female driver announced Tuesday that she has signed a contract with Stewart-Haas Racing. Team co-owner Tony Stewart said the specific length of contracts is never revealed, but that Patrick’s is a “multi-year” contract. That extends to the deal with her new sponsor for 2016, Nature’s Bakery a nutritional snack company.
The company replaces longtime Patrick sponsor GoDaddy which has been with Patrick since her days in the IndyCar series in 2007 and became her primary sponsor when she transitioned to NASCAR in 2010. GoDaddy announced in April that it is refocusing its marketing efforts and will step away from primary sponsorship but that Patrick will remain a spokesperson. The move in the final year of her contract at SHR fueled speculation that Patrick might be moving to a different team next season. With Monday’s announcement however, Patrick will remain with the SHR for at least the near future.
“This is really the first year that I’ve had to wonder or worry what I’m going to do in the next year,” Patrick said during the sponsor reveal press conference at SHR headquarters in Huntersville North Carolina Tuesday. “I’ve been extremely fortunate in my career to not have to think about that. One deal rolled into the next. There was not a lot of concern. So I’ve had a lot of comfort over a decade.” MORE>>>
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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