Following a visit by Danica Patrick to Stewart-Haas Racing, co-owner Tony Stewart addressed the issue Saturday at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Talking with reporters, Stewart explained he felt the high-profile female IndyRacing League driver will eventually make her way into NASCAR.

“I know that she’s serious about it,” Stewart explained. “She’s come over and just talking for things right now.  I know that’s what she wants so do.  She looked me straight in the eye and said this is what I want to do -- it looks like fun, looks like a lot of work, but it looks like fun.  I don’t think she has some misguided idea that it’s going to be easy doing it.  She wants to do it the right way, she has the intentions of doing everything right and she’s kind of come to us to see our opinion about how she should go about it.”

A driver that has successfully made the switch from open-wheel to NASCAR, Stewart offers the knowledge and expertise that Patrick needs. As part owner of his team with a facility large enough to host another car, Stewart also offers the possibility of a future ride – but according to the former champion, there are no plans to expand his team for next year.

“…it’s too late to do something for next year,” Stewart said of adding a third car to his stable. “We’re two weeks before the Chase and we’re going to be very focused on hopefully keeping two cars with a chance to possibly win a championship.  We just didn’t get far enough down to get something done for next year and I’m not sure that’s a bad thing.  This is a decision where timing is everything for it and when we do it, it doesn’t matter when it happens, but when it does we want it to be the right timing and the right situation.”

Could Stewart-Haas’ timing match that of Danica Patrick? That is only for us to speculate, but one thing that seems certain is that Danica wants to come stock car racing. “I can pretty much guarantee you that at some point she’s going to be over here,” Stewart added.

In order for Patrick to make a successful transition from IRL to NASCAR she will have to first cut her teeth in either the Nationwide or Truck Series. Judging by those open-wheel converts that came before her, success in the Cup Series is seldom found without first getting your feet wet in one of NASCAR’s other divisions. Tony Stewart ran the Nationwide Series, Juan Pablo Montoya competed in both the ARCA Series and the Nationwide Series and even Sam Hornish Jr.’s performance on the Cup side seemed to improve once he began running more Nationwide races.

“You have to learn before you get here,” Stewart went on to say. “In all three of the national series, even the truck series is competitive.  You can’t expect, even Juan (Pablo Montoya) and Juan was the exception to the rule and even Juan ran some ARCA races and some Nationwide races before he ran Cup full time.  You have to get used to a heavier race car and you have to get used to less down force, smaller tires – it’s a lot of learning and there’s a lot of race tracks that you have to get used to.  It’s sensory overload and that’s why you have to pay your dues before you get to this level.”

While this story seemed to center on rumors and what if’s earlier this year, it appears that Stewart’s comments have breathed new life into this hot topic. NASCAR is always in search of more diversity and the next best thing, while stealing another of Indy car racing’s biggest stars would be a confidence boost to those in Daytona. Will Danica bring new fans to the sport? Can she be successful enough to be a contender as opposed to another failed open-wheel transfer? Only time will tell…

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