Raise your hand and scream if you've had it with Danicamania.

Raise both hands and scream like a little girl, if you must.

“

I would be very prepared to start small and grow and really learn the cars. So if it were to happen, I would be open to all suggestions.

”

-- DANICA PATRICK

For someone who has won exactly one race in her five-year IndyCar career, Danica Patrick sure knows how to keep herself in the news -- even when she's not really making news. Not to be mean or anything, but she's sort of like the Paris Hilton of racing: famous for being famous.

Patrick announced Monday that she had agreed to a multi-year contract to continue driving full-time in the IndyCar Series for Andretti Autosport. On Tuesday, Patrick participated in a media conference call along with team owner Michael Andretti, who confirmed that he has signed the world's most notable female driver for the next two years, with "a mutual option" for a third.

That doesn't mean Patrick is done flirting with NASCAR. On the contrary, she said she still hopes to get something done -- presumably with JR Motorsports, if previous reports are to be believed -- where she could run some ARCA and eventually Nationwide Series races by next season.

"I think we still have time," Patrick said Tuesday. "Even if things go until the last minute, there is still a little bit of time left."

Praise the Lord! There is still time left to waste more of NASCAR's precious -- and incredibly brief -- offseason remaining on The Danica Watch.

Um, no thanks. Call me when you've signed with someone. Officially. Otherwise, have a Merry Christmas and get back to me in 2010.

Who's to blame?

In some ways, you can't blame Patrick for all this annoying Danicamania. After all, this is America -- and all she has done the past several years to embed herself into the country's consciousness is relentlessly market herself at every opportunity.

And she is indeed coming off, for her, a successful IndyCar season. She didn't win a race, but she did finish third in the Indianapolis 500 and fifth in the series points standings. (Continued)