NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France (August 25, 2011)
“We are pleased Danica Patrick has chosen to race full time in NASCAR in 2012. She has demonstrated a strong desire to compete and NASCAR provides the best opportunity to race against the top drivers in the world with the largest and most loyal fan base in motorsports on a week-to-week basis. Danica has shown solid improvement in NASCAR and we believe her decision to run full time in the NASCAR Nationwide Series, with additional races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, will be exciting for our fans and a great challenge for her.”

NASCAR on FOX analyst & Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip: “I’ve been waiting for Danica to make the commitment to NASCAR and now that she has, I believe she will surprise a lot of skeptics. She is a very focused driver and now without the distractions of another series she can put all her efforts into it. In a very short period of time and with very limited experience, she has shown me she has the talent to be very successful in NASCAR. Can she win? You bet you. There are tracks she will be very competitive on and with the experience of a crew chief like Tony Eury Jr. leading the team, she will have all the tools she needs to be a success. If she wins, the sport wins and the fans will love it!”

NASCAR on FOX analyst Larry McReynolds: “There’s no question it’s not only big for NASCAR, it’s big for sports in general. But it’s not just who she is but who she’ll be driving for. The Nationwide Series deal with JR Motorsports is top-notch equipment. I don’t know if it’s her decision or people giving her good direction, but I’m so thankful that they are going to run her a full Nationwide Series schedule next year and some limited Cup races. I was so afraid they were going to try to run her a full Sprint Cup Series schedule. That would’ve been, in my book, baptism by fire. What she’s tried to do the last year and a half – run a full Indycar schedule, run NASCAR periodically – would’ve been hard for anyone to have done. It would’ve been hard for Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart. I don’t want to say that she should win a race next year or the year after. If we start trying to predict that, we’re just setting her and ourselves up for frustration. She’s got talent and as long as she keeps the right attitude, she should be competitive. I think it’ll be good for the sport across the board and good for sports in general.”

NASCAR on FOX race announcer Mike Joy: “It’s been a while since NASCAR had a capable woman racer in the sport’s top ranks, and none have brought Danica’s level of racing experience or her marketing clout. She will certainly be good for the ratings, and hopefully, good for the competition. Some will tune in to see if she can hold her own with these bigger, heavier cars week-to-week. Others will watch to see how difficult her adjustment to full-time stock car racing will be. Everyone will be talking about her, and that can only be good for drawing new viewers to the sport, especially women.”

NASCAR on FOX analyst Jeff Hammond: “I feel a lot better now than I did when I first heard about her coming into NASCAR a few years back. Then, I felt she was using our sport to gain popularity. However since then, she’s really impressed me with the improvements she’s made. Her crew chief Tony Eury Jr., spoke very highly of her and that meant a lot to me. When Tony told me about her commitment and how hard she works, that really made a difference to me. She genuinely likes driving stock cars and I think she is representing the future of female racing with a lot of style. She’s in a position to make a difference this time and will surprise some people in the Nationwide series.”

Daytona International Speedway
“Daytona International Speedway provides an ideal backdrop for Danica Patrick to launch a full-time NASCAR career. We’re all anxious to see to her take this next step in NASCAR by racing against the best drivers right here at the ‘World Center of Racing.’ ”