Public opinion lightning rod Danica Patrick has signed a two-year contract with Andretti Autosport. More interesting is that she formally stated her interest to drive in NASCAR as well. Apparently the deal with Andretti would allow that to happen.

Patrick stated in an interview with Autoweek that she would concentrate her efforts on the Indy car team and could focus on NASCAR stuff before and after the Indy car season ended. Patrick seems to realize that the transition will take some time and appears not to be rushing into the deep end of the NASCAR pool.

It would be cool to see her give it a go. Obviously the differences between the open-wheel cars and Stock Cars are many and the learning curve would be steep, but she can currently run inches away from other drivers with open wheels, why couldn’t she do it with fenders on the car as well?