Danica Patrick is still a Hot commodity

Brooklyn, Mich. -- Danica Patrick has experienced a few bumps in the road during her rookie year in NASCAR racing.

Patrick, who made a name for herself in the IndyCar series, is competing in the Nationwide series on a part-time basis for JR Motorsports while still driving full-time in IndyCar for Andretti Autosport.

While Patrick was expected to experience some growing pains in Nationwide, she is also struggling in the IndyCar series. Still, she is as popular as ever with fans, along with sponsors who continue to jump on board to support her racing career.

Patrick held a press conference Thursday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway to talk about her new relationship with Hot Wheels. She is making her debut in the No. 7 Hot Wheels Chevrolet. GoDaddy.com was her primary sponsor in her previous five Nationwide events.

Patrick, 28, has been involved in three accidents in her five Nationwide starts with a career-best finish of 24th at Chicagoland Speedway in her last event, July 9th. She finished 21st in Sunday's IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio, knocking her to 11th in the standings.

"Looking back at Chicagoland, I think it was a very positive race for me," Patrick said. "We were able to run the entire race fairly clean, which was something we needed. Getting laps are what I'm focused on right now."

Patrick has just one victory during her six-year IndyCar career -- the 2008 Indy Japan 300 -- and her best points finish was fifth last season, highlighted by her third-place finish in the Indianapolis 500.

Wide track

Patrick, who plans once again to run full-time next season in IndyCar, is looking for a solid run in Saturday's CARFAX 250 at MIS in the new Nationwide car. It will mark the halfway point of her planned 13-race schedule.

"I think I've been here before in an IndyCar," said Patrick who led five laps before finishing seventh at MIS in the IndyCar series in 2007. "It's a big, wide-open track. I think it's a good track for me to be in the Hot Wheels car and to have a good weekend.

"I think what I've seen so far in myself in the Nationwide series with the bigger tracks I feel like I'm doing better at them."

When asked her expectations for this weekend, Patrick replied: "We need to just try and get into that top 15 to 20 and have a really solid day and then anything can happen. You can have a great day and finish in the top 10 or have a bad day and crash on the first lap. All those things can happen, but I think the top 15 to 20 is a really good goal for me."

Rough starts

Patrick knows the learning curve is tough in NASCAR. All she has to do is look back on the struggles of former Indy 500 champions Juan Montoya and Sam Hornish.

Montoya finished 20th during his rookie season in the 2007 Sprint Cup season, then 25th in 2008 before making the Chase -- top 12 -- last season. Hornish wrecked during his first two Nationwide starts in 2006. He finished 35th in his rookie Sprint Cup season in 2008 and 28th in 2009. Montoya is running 19th and Hornish 28th in points this season in Sprint Cup.

Brad Keselowski, a Rochester Hills native, has a couple of things in common with Patrick. He is a two-time most popular driver (2008, 2009) in the Nationwide series like Patrick is in IndyCar (2005-07, 2009). Keselowski also competed for JR Motorsports, where he finished third in points in Nationwide last year. He feels Patrick can be successful in the series with a lot of hard work and time.

"She needs to work really, really hard," Keselowski said. "It's not going to come overnight. Obviously it's going to be harder for her because of not being able to do it full-time, plus the pressure of the fans and the community, so it's going to take a lot of work."

Patrick takes a back seat to no one in the world of marketing. She is well known for her GoDaddy commercials and will be seen in more commercials during Saturday's coverage (2 p.m., ESPN) showcasing Hot Wheels.

"I've been very fortunate to have sponsors that activate me on (more) than just the stickers on the side of the car," Patrick said. "It's helped me on my brand and also helps them. As we all know so well, if there's not a sponsor on the car you can't go around no matter how good you are."

Patrick had an average speed of 172.699 mph (23rd) Thursday morning and 171.641 (26th) during the afternoon. She will need to pick it up to reach her goal this weekend of cracking a top-20 finish, and selling a lot of Hot Wheels along the way.

Patrick's potholes

A look at Danica's Nationwide Series results:

MIS weekend

What: Sprint Cup Carfax 400, Nationwide Series Carfax 250

Where: Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn, Mich.

TV: Sprint Cup qualifying, 3:30 p.m. today on SPEED; Nationwide qualifying, 10 a.m. Saturday on SPEED; Nationwide race 2 p.m. Saturday on ESPN; Sprint Cup race 1 p.m. Sunday on ESPN

Defending champions: Brian Vickers (Sprint Cup), Brad Keselowski (Nationwide)

Tickets: Start at $25 with junior pricing (ages 13-17) half off any reserved seat. Children 12 and under admitted free in general admission seating. Call (800) 354-1010 or go to mispeedway.com for more information.

Other weekend races

Trucks

Too Tough to Tame 200

Site: Darlington, S.C.

Schedule: Saturday, practice, qualifying (Speed, 5:30-7 p.m.); race 7:30 p.m. (Speed, 7-10 p.m.)

Track: Darlington Raceway (oval, 1.366 miles)

Race distance: 200.8 miles, 147 laps

NHRA

Site: Brainerd, Minn.

Schedule: Today, qualifying; Saturday, qualifying (ESPN2, 11 p.m.-1 a.m.); Sunday, final eliminations (ESPN2, 10 p.m.-1 a.m.)

Track: Brainerd International Raceway

Quotable

"There's no bad blood from my side. That's just racing, hard racing."

-- Carl Edwards, left, on his much-publicized feud with Keselowski

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