And thus, it begins.

Danica getting interviewed at the 13th Annual Media Dey at Daytona.

The 2012 NASCAR season has officially begun this past weekend and with it, DanicaMania is on full throttle!  Danica will be running 10 Sprint Cup races for Stewart-Haas Racing and the full Nationwide Series schedule this year for JR Motorsports. Which despite the past two years running in a handful of NASCAR races, it's still very "different" for me as DanicaFanBoy to not see her in an Indycar. Danica is guaranteed a spot in this year's Daytona 500 due to some crazy NASCAR math and ran her first qualifying laps this morning. Below is video of the qualifying run.

2012 Daytona 500 Qualifying Video

Danica on cover of "Anytime Fitness" magazine.

Danica is on the cover of the latest Anytime Fitness magazine, which is given out to members of the Anytime Fitness gyms. In the interview, it covers Danica's campaign to bring awareness of COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. it also covers questions concerning her move to NASCAR and her off-season activities.

Danica finishes 18th at Richmond.

Each of the nearly 3,000 stars on her car represents one of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

In a car designed by GoDaddy.com CEO Bob Parsons, Danica ran her first NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Richmond International Raceway. She finished 18th despite making a small mistake by getting into the rear quarter panel of pole setter, Brad Keselowski. Danica went into turn 3 halfway through the race a little too fast and got into Keselowski of which spun him out. Oops! She admitted it was her fault. Still, a great finish after starting 32nd. I believe she most certainly learned a lot today.

Danica on cover of August "WellBella" magazine.

Danica is on the cover of the August issue of WellBella magazine. She is interviewed about her diet, nutrition habits, and how she is working on bringing awareness of COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A form of this disease had stricken her late grandmother. Below is a link to a flash version of the full magazine issue. Also below is a link to the official COPD awareness website of which Danica is a spokesmodel.

WellBella - August 2011
Drive4COPD.com

2011 has been a defining year for Danica.

I know it's been almost a year since I added any entries to this blog, but I most certainly have not stopped following what has been going on with Danica. As a matter of fact, I have met her once already this year at the Long Beach Grand Prix back in April and will see her again here in Sin City for the inaugural running of the Indycar World Championships in October. I know I planned on seeing her more this racing season (a.k.a. "DanicaStalk") since she was racing both Indycar and NASCAR, but life has a funny way of getting in the way of your passions.

In front of Danica's car before the start of the 2011 Long Beach Grand Prix.
Danica is getting ready in the background!

Danica and I after her 7th place finish at the 2011 Long Beach Grand Prix. She said, "Let me take the shot..."

As for Danica pulling "double-duty" in both the Indycar Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series, it's no surprise she is actually doing better at NNS than Indycar. I've been "ranting and raging" about Andretti Autosport's lack of a true commitment to, not only Danica, but all it's drivers during the 2010 season. And it has been most apparent during this 2011 season as well. Due to the lack of consistency both during qualifying and on race days, it's no wonder why "newer" teams like KV Racing, Panther Racing, and Sam Schmidt Motorsports are more competitive than Andretti.

On the NASCAR Nationwide Series side of things, it's like "night and day". The equipment, the strategy, and most importantly, the commitment is there. Consistently, the car and the strategy planning is always competitive, even if Danica isn't driving the #7 GoDaddy Chevy Impala on that particular weekend. It comes to show what kind of operation JR Motorsports has. A couple of weeks ago, Danica announced she will drive full-time in the NNS and participate in a few NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races with Stewart-Haas Racing during 2012. As for the Indycar Series, I know the only reason why she would even bother would be to only race the Indianapolis 500...that's it.

Danica with her 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Sereis #7 Chevy Impala.

Which now raises the question after the August 27th press conference, "Did Danica move to NASCAR full-time because of the money?" I'd like to say that financial opportunity was just part of it. There are plenty of reasons, that I can see, that makes Danica's move to NASCAR a very good decision. Let's go down the list, shall we...?

1) T.J. Patrick - it's been said that Danica's father always had a "weakness" for NASCAR

2) Indycar's decision to add more road courses than ovals - even though Danica definitely has great road racing ability, her greatest strength still lies on driving ovals. Where better than in NASCAR where 95% of all races are on ovals.

3) JR Motorsports - a team owned by Dale Earnhardt, Jr.; his sister Kelley Earnhardt Miller; his cousin and former crew chief Tony Eury, Jr.; and Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. Those names alone just scream "#winning"...

4) NASCAR's enormously huge following - i still can't believe these numbers: NASCAR is the 2nd most watched sport on television in the U.S. and the 1st in attendance. With viewership like that, it's no wonder why Godaddy.com wants to make sure their #1 spokemodel has a ride. And despite Indycar having the historical Indianapolis 500, they cannot compete with NASCAR's answer to that: the Daytona 500.

I'm pretty sure there are plenty of personal reasons on top of the aforementioned. But seriously, can you blame her for dropping Indycar?

Overall, the brand that is "Danica" will be synonymous with racing. And in particular, racing "history". What Danica has accomplished these past 6 years on the racetrack has most certainly not been comparable to what Jimmie Johnson or Dario Franchitti has done during that period of time for their respective racing series. But it is what Danica has brought to Indycar, and now in NASCAR, that makes her more than just "a hot chick who likes to drive racecars". Every time she gets behind the wheel of her car, there will ALWAYS be that opportunity to witness true racing history. Of course, there have been a number of women who have been there before her, but this time around...the skills are most definitely there behind both the looks and the brand. And it is this history making opportunity that makes her the "huge draw" that will ultimately define her.

Danica finishes 32nd at PIR.

 Danica's 2010 season has been all about learning what it takes to race a stock car. That even includes how to retaliate on other drivers to show you won't be taken advantage of during a long season. On lap 130, Danica was running 24th when the #35 car of Tony Raines nipped Danica's left front and tore up her fender making the tire rub and smoke up. While she was trying to drive the incident off, the #27 car of Alex Kennedy tries to take advantage of a slow #7 and uses her as a right-side bumper. Tony Eury, Jr. gives her the blessing to "express her dismay" at Kennedy's lack of respect and she gives Kennedy a shove into the wall. As she does that, her pit crew started celebrating her revenge. With 43 laps to go, Danica was trying to pass the #15 car of Michael Annet for 23rd spot when she got loose and hit the wall after turn 2. Unfortunately, the hit really damaged the rear track bar and she had to call it a race. If there is anything for her to take away from this race, it would definitely be that sometimes, in stock car racing, you will have to be quite malevolent to other drivers if they keep disrespecting you out on the track. That's what fenders are for...right?

Danica qualifies 28th for NNS race at Phoenix International Raceway.

Danica will start 28th for the Wypall 200 at Phoenix today at 4pm EST. Considering all the PR she has done all week, I'm surprised she remembers how weird the set up is at this track.

Chevy back to Indycar?

The IZOD IndyCar Series has scheduled a press conference for Friday morning in Indianapolis. The news conference, which is scheduled for 10:00am EST, will be held at the Hall of Fame Museum at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There has been a report that appeared online claiming that GM will announce this Friday a return to IndyCar with its Chevrolet brand, to coincide with the new engine and chassis rules due to come into effect in 2012. The report claimed that Chevy will employ a twin-turbo V6 configuration for its new engine, although it did not specify whether the engine would be produced in house or by an independent race engine manufacturer and then be badged as a Chevrolet.

Danica to appear on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" tonight.

Danica will make a guest appearance on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" tonight. Other guests include Chris Pine and Blake Shelton.

Danica finishes 22nd after starting 28th at Texas Motor Speedway.

After qualifying 28th for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at the Texas Motor Speedway, Danica finishes 22nd. During the 12th lap, she got some right front damage from avoiding a crash. Danica pitted and got back into the field in 42nd spot. As the race progressed, her car seemed to be getting faster running really good lap times halfway into the race. Unfortunately due to the lap12 incident, she fell 2 laps back and really didn't have any chance to make them up.