Patrick gets some drafting experience on Day 2 of test (cont'd)

On Friday, the media pressure on Patrick was intense, with about 20 still and video photographers forming a funnel the first time she left her hauler to get to her garage, on the end of the building closest to the media center that's between the ARCA and Cup garages at Daytona.

Saturday, a sunny but cool day with occasional brisk winds, there were more spectators in the infield and Patrick took a moment on her lunch break to sign autographs for fans measuring a full range of ages and sexes.

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The impact of Patrick, 27, on NASCAR's fan base will only be known some time in the future, as the date of her NASCAR debut remains in limbo. Based on what happens in this test, in future tests and even up to the moment of her ARCA debut, Patrick and the JR Motorsports' hierarchy has yet to decide if Patrick will run the Nationwide Series opener at Daytona on Feb. 13 or wait until a week later, on Feb. 20 at California Speedway, where the team has guaranteed she'll attempt the race.

He laughed and said that decision could come as late as two days after the ARCA race, when the Nationwide teams begin to arrive in Daytona.

"How comfortable she is, that's going to be [what tips the scales on a decision to do Daytona]," Eury Jr. said. "Drafting's a big deal. We're going to get another day [Sunday] and then come down here for this race and see how she drafts. And if she feels like it's something she wants to do -- you gotta do it sometime.

"That's what we both said, but just make sure it's the right time. If it's later on in the year she wants to try the speedway racing in the Nationwide [Series, we can]. Because I mean, [Daytona's Nationwide race] is a Cup race. There's guys that have been doing this for 10 or 15 years and they know all the games and all the cards.

"To put her in a situation where she's going to come down here and maybe finish 21st, I don't want to break her confidence like that and put her in a bad situation. So if it takes not running that race, that's what we'll decide to do."

And that could be right at zero hour.

"I can do it last-minute," Eury Jr. said. "We got six cars sitting there that we had ready this year that are sitting there on the floor so if she comes back on Tuesday and says 'hey, I want to be in Daytona,' we'll load the truck and come on down."

Eury Jr.'s biggest concern is sure to be allayed with time, which he said has been in short supply to this point.

"The one worry we have -- but it ain't even a worry because I know she'll do it -- is we'll have to accelerate the time it takes us to get [acclimated] to a track," Eury Jr. said. "It's took us a full day, pretty much, for her to be comfortable. When we get to a Nationwide race we've got three hours. But that comes with experience, and this is her second day in a stock car, so by no means am I expecting her to be A-game right now so as we test more during the winter, and we've got one more day here she'll get better and better with experience."

Patrick had actually turned plenty of laps around Daytona, but never on the full 2.5-mile oval. She first came here for the 2006 Rolex 24, when she raced with Rusty Wallace. She participated in an exploratory IndyCar test in 2007, a track spokesman said. And then she raced for NASCAR owner Richard Childress in the 2009 Rolex.

On Friday, the "Danicamania" that has enveloped all aspects of the sport even touched NASCAR president Mike Helton, who came across the street from his new office building to take in some of the ambience and joke with the media.

Before he did, he chatted with former NASCAR executive Mark Dyer, who now works with IMG, the agency which is engineering Patrick's NASCAR excursion.

"I saw you guys all huddled up, so I figured I'd stop by and see what all the hoopla was about," Helton said. "She's got a good deal of experience with a following.

"It's always -- whether it's Juan Montoya or Sam Hornish Jr. or whoever it might be, Tony Stewart -- decides on NASCAR to participate in, we consider that a positive thing for us.

"You take someone with the profile that Danica has and the attention that she attracts, that doesn't hurt, either. It doesn't hurt us to have good story lines, and this certainly is a good story line."

Of course, the danger is, as Patrick herself said, of under-producing on her expectations.

"I hope everybody's expectations can be reasonable," Helton said. "That's important. She's got obviously her own goals and expectations, and that's the important thing. JR Motorsports, [co-owner] Kelley Earnhardt has got their [expectations] that they all want to come together with, but I think it's important for the rest of us to be reasonable with ours."

The funniest thing for any parent who's ever attempted to teach a child to drive a vehicle with a standard transmission is the almost painful dragging of the clutch and revving the engine Patrick does while trying to get going from a standstill. It's no worry to Eury Jr.

"That's something you'd expect to see," Eury Jr. said. "You'd expect her to stall it and she ain't stalled it once. You've just got to slip the clutch because these things have got such a high gear. We did do a couple practices coming down pit road and she did awesome there, getting the car stopped, so we're right on schedule."

Danica at Daytona: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3