Daily NASCAR

by Holly Cain

Filed under: Kevin Harvick, NASCAR Sponsors, Richard Childress Racing, NASCAR

Richard Childress Racing made it official Tuesday: Longtime NASCAR sponsor Budweiser will join RCR as primary sponsor on current Sprint Cup Series championship leader Kevin Harvick’s No. 29 Chevrolet for 20 of the 36 points races in 2011.

Harvick is the latest in a long line of high-profile sponsorships for the company during the last three decades, including three-time Cup champ Darrell Waltrip, a lengthy and popular pairing with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and currently Kasey Kahne.

Childress announced earlier this year that Harvick’s current sponsor Shell-Pennzoil would not be returning next season and Kahne revealed last week that he will be joining the Red Bull Racing team for 2011.

A release from the team said in addition to its 20-race primary sponsorship deal, Budweiser would appear on Harvick’s Chevy for Daytona Speedweeks’ two non-points races and would be co-primary sponsor on the car for the exhibition Sprint All-Star Race. It will be an associate sponsor on the remaining events.

“We’re excited to have as successful a driver as Kevin Harvick to usher in a new era for Budweiser,” said Mark Wright, Anheuser-Busch Vice President of Media, Sports and Entertainment.

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Daytona Int’l Speedway, Nationwide Series, Danica Patrick

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — After a top-10 taste of stock car racing over the weekend, Danica Patrick has decided to accelerate her learning curve and will enter Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.

Patrick announced her decision Monday, two days after finishing sixth at Daytona in an 80-lap race in the ARCA Series, which is an entry-level, training series for many drivers. The Nationwide Series is NASCAR’s version of Triple-A baseball and a significant step up.

“Racing in the Nationwide Series race was my goal during this entire two-month preparation process,” Patrick said, “but we wanted to make sure it was the right thing to do.

“The ARCA race was a blast and I’m not ready for my first Daytona Speedweeks to end just yet. I want more racing.”

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by Holly Cain

Filed under: Daytona Int’l Speedway

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Plenty of cellphone cameras greeted Danica Patrick as she arrived for Friday’s ARCA ReMax Series drivers meeting at Daytona International Speedway. And that was just her fellow racers.

Such is the life of IndyCar’s most famous driver as she prepares to make her much-anticipated stock car debut next February in the ARCA ReMax Series race that traditionally opens Daytona Speedweeks.

With about 30 reporters, photographers and television cameras following her every step, Patrick drove her No. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet on track at 1:59 pm ET and got all of five laps in before lingering rain showers finally forced the cancellation of the first day of the three-day test.

Nonetheless, a smiling Patrick, who also participated in a brief double-secret test session at Walt Disney World Speedway earlier in the week, said she was quite pleased with her limited seat time.

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