MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- Jerry Gappens came to JR Motorsports on Thursday bearing gifts.

No, not early Christmas presents. These were more like, well, a bribe. Actually that's exactly what the five lobsters Gappens toted with him from New England represented -- and Gappens wasn't ashamed to openly admit it.

HHP/Harold Hinson

Danica with NHMS' Jerry Gappens

“

I am like ultra-wuss sensitive to animals dying right now. And a lobster is an animal to me. I can't imagine getting steamed to death, so I can't help but think about that when I see that poor lobster.

”

-- DANICA PATRICK

Gappens, executive vice president and general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, showed up at Thursday's news conference at JR Motorsports with his lobsters in an effort to lure Danica Patrick to participate in a Nationwide Series race at his track next June.

Patrick, a popular IndyCar driver, announced a week earlier in Phoenix that she had signed a two-year deal to drive a part-time schedule in the Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports. In the meantime, she will continue to drive a full-time schedule in the IndyCar Series, where the schedule is much lighter.

There was nothing light about Gappens' carry-on luggage Thursday.

"I brought an eight-pounder and four two-pounders," Gappens said. "The two-pounders are better eating. The eight-pounder is a little bit older and a little tougher eating."

As it turned out, getting Patrick to commit to racing in the Nationwide event at Gappens' track might be a tougher sell than Gappens thought -- even though it is scheduled to go off during an off weekend for the IndyCar Series. The newest and instantly most famous female driver in NASCAR was not all that impressed with Gappens' clawing companions, and said she certainly had no intention of cooking any of them up for herself.

"I'd probably rather just see it on my plate," Patrick said after being introduced to the largest lobster. "I don't want to see how it all goes down.

"I mean, I'll still eat meat and I know the cow dies, but I don't want to see it die. I don't want to have a relationship with it while it's alive, either."

Gappens admitted that Patrick's reaction to the, um, gifts wasn't exactly what he had envisioned.

"She jumped back from the lobster. I told her I would cook it for her if she wanted," Gappens said.

Patrick explained her reaction a little later.

"I had to put my dog down that I had for 14 years in March. It was so awful," she said. "And ever since then, I have had such sadness for dead animals. I hit a bird one day and it went flying, and I had to pray for him at church because that's where I was headed to. I saw a dead bunny on the road in my neighborhood one day when I was on my way home, and cried.

"I don't know what my problem is. I am like ultra-wuss sensitive to animals dying right now. And a lobster is an animal to me. I can't imagine getting steamed to death, so I can't help but think about that when I see that poor lobster." (Continued)