Patrick gets Daytona 500 ride
The first leg of the Danica Double is set. Danica Patrick will drive for Premium Motorsports in the Feb. 18 seasonopening Daytona 500 as part of a onerace deal announced Monday. Patrick retired from full-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series racing in November, the same time she announced she’d race twice more — in the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500 in May — before calling it a career. Internet web services provider GoDaddy will sponsor both of Patrick’s races in 2018, although a team for the Indianapolis 500 hasn’t been announced. Tony Eury Jr. will be atop the pit box as her crew chief in the same role he had with JR Motorsports for parts of three seasons when Patrick ran in the Xfinity Series from 2010 to 2012. Premium Motorsports has a charter, meaning that Patrick, 35, has a guaranteed spot in the Daytona 500.