Kansas completes Patrick's 10-race Cup schedule in 2012

Jul 10, 2012 - 5:43 PM Charlotte, NC (Sports Network) - Danica Patrick revealed on Tuesday that Kansas Speedway will complete her 10-race Sprint Cup Series schedule in 2012.

Patrick, a former IndyCar competitor, is driving the No. 10 Chevrolet, with GoDaddy.com as her team's primary sponsor, for Tommy Baldwin Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing in NASCAR's premier series this year. Both racing organizations formed a collaborative partnership for Patrick's team prior to the start of this season.

The 30-year-old driver is also running a full-time Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports this year.

Patrick is quite familiar with the 1.5-mile Kansas racetrack. She scored her first career IndyCar pole there in July 2005. Her lone Nationwide Series race at this track came last October when she started and finished 15th.

The Sprint Cup race at Kansas is scheduled for October 21. Teams will have an extra day of practice, scheduled for the Thursday prior to the event, since the track has been resurfaced since the series' last appearance there in April.

"I've always liked racing at Kansas Speedway," Patrick said in a team statement. "I think the extra day of testing will be very beneficial, not only to prepare for the race weekend, but to learn for the rest of 2012 and looking ahead to 2013 with Stewart-Haas Racing. The more track time I can get, the better."

Last November, Patrick announced eight of her 10-scheduled races for this season, beginning with the Daytona 500 in February. Darlington (May 12), Bristol (August 25), Atlanta (September 2), Chicagoland (Sept. 16), Dover (Sept. 30), Texas (November 4) and Phoenix (Nov. 11) were added to her schedule as well. The May 27 race at Charlotte was included in January.

Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicagoland and Texas are also 1.5-miles in length.

"With the testing rules the way they are, we can't test with her at tracks where NASCAR's top three series compete," said Greg Zipadelli, who is SHR's competition director and race strategist for Patrick. "That extra day of testing will be huge for her. With the amount of 1.5-mile ovals on the schedule, it made sense to have her compete at Kansas to better prepare her for 2013."

Patrick finished 38th in her Feb. 27 Sprint Cup debut at Daytona and then followed up with a 31st-place run at Darlington before finishing 30th at Charlotte.

There had been speculation that Patrick would add Indianapolis Motor Speedway, since she had performed quite well in the Indianapolis 500. Patrick competed in the Indy 500 each year from 2005-11, finishing third in '09 and fourth in '05.

Patrick is hoping to run a full-time Sprint Cup schedule in 2013.