Jimmie Johnson has some advice for Danica Patrick if the IndyCar star really wants to make the move to NASCAR: don’t do it part-time. Patrick has reportedly signed a three-year extension to remain in IndyCars with Andretti Green Racing, though she is in preliminary talks with JR Motorsports about dabbling in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series sometime down the road.

If Danica Patrick knows what her future after this season holds, she’s not saying. Patrick refused yesterday to confirm widespread reports that she’s agreed to a three-year extension of her IndyCar contract with Andretti Green Racing. Asked about the extension, Patrick shook her head, not saying a word. Patrick is considered the biggest draw in the IRL, and her interest in moving to NASCAR has been speculated on numerous times in recent years. She has a close relationship with Tony Stewart, and he has said Patrick will eventually make the jump he did—from IndyCar to stock cars.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Danica Patrick plans to give NASCAR a try. After all, why would she use her summer vacation to tour North Carolina race shops if she had no intention of trying out stock cars? She’s twice been to Tony Stewart’s place and visited shops owned by Joe Gibbs, Richard Childress, Jack Roush and Michael Waltrip.

A comedian spending a month on an airliner lands at Richmond International Airport. A famous Indy car driver pulls into Richmond International Raceway. Put ‘em together and it’ll be a natural for marketing.

Danica Patrick notched her only IndyCar victory on Japanese soil, and for a while it looked like Japanese teammate Hideki Mutoh might claim his first victory in Richmond. The Andretti Green teammates were one and two for a short while, but a pit strategy that had them zigging while the rest of the field zagged left Mutoh in an unlucky fourth, with Patrick right behind him.

Two big-time racing circuits, IRL and NASCAR, would benefit greatly from Danica Patrick’s presence in 2010. Patrick seems intrigued by the challenge presented by NASCAR. Danica Patrick is not just a driver on the Indy Racing League circuit. She is “a brand.“ And that brand is . . . “Determined. It’s feminine and, hopefully—I feel awkward talking about myself like this,“ Patrick said recently, “it’s something beautiful, something fast and exciting and inspiring and something iconic that’s never been done before.“

You wouldn’t want to challenge Danica Patrick in IndyCar, but can she handle a remote-controlled miniature racer?

Danica Patrick says she is not likely to make any announcement about her future in racing until after the IndyCar Series season is finished in October. The only woman to win a major open-wheel race in history is in the final year of her three-year contract with Andretti-Green Racing. She says she is in the process of gathering information about what her options will be next season in open-wheel racing and possibly NASCAR.

Danica Patrick got herself into a bit of hot water when asked by Sports Illustrated if she would use performance-enhancing drugs if she could get away with it and if it would help her win the Indianapolis 500. “Well, then it’s not cheating, is it? If nobody finds out?“ she said. Patrick then elaborated. “Yeah, it would be like finding a gray area,“ she said. “In motor sports, we work in the gray areas a lot. You’re trying to find where the holes are in the rule book.“

IndyCar star Danica Patrick says she has not been contacted by anyone from the new, American Formula One team and has no plans to leave the IndyCar Series. Ken Anderson, one of the principals in the team that will be formally announced next week in Charlotte, N.C., has said Patrick is a candidate to fill one of the team’s seats. In a phone interview Friday with The Associated Press, Patrick says she is flattered by the team’s interest but is happy where she is.