Patrick should make Nationwide debut at DIS (cont'd)

For Patrick -- obviously a quick study -- all it took was time, Buescher said.

"Late in the race, whenever we were all drafting and she got back up in the front, she was able to get up on my bumper and push me quite a bit, so she learned an awful lot about drafting throughout the race and I think it helped her."

In a lot of ways, the ARCA race was a warm-up for every aspect of Daytona's Speedweeks. Very few people know exactly where they're going, or what they're doing or what the procedure of the day is.

And so it was in the case of "Danicamania." Initially only two media members had crew chief Tony Eury Jr. cornered to register his opinion on the night. The group swelled before Patrick came out of the trailer, prompting an instant switch even in mid-question to Eury Jr., who'd patiently answered most of them at least twice already.

Keeping composure

Danica kept the car off the outside wall at least once and kept it relatively under control when she went from the track apron across the wide grass patch inside the tri-oval to the end of pit road.

• Video: Patrick impressive
• Patrick finishes sixth

After the first shift, three-deep and at least eight people wide had finished with Patrick, she turned to the back of the lift gate to address some latecomers and a smaller group addressed JR Motorsports' general manager Kelley Earnhardt.

Earnhardt staunchly maintained the company line on the decision of whether or not to do the Nationwide race as Patrick's alone.

"It's totally her decision," Earnhardt said. "I don't know if one race is gonna put it in the bucket for her so she's going to have to think about that. She probably, right now, would be like 'Hell yes, let's go' because she's beaming with excitement. But take the night to think about it."

But look at it this way. Knowing what he knows about racing at Daytona, racing in the Sprint Cup-laden Nationwide Series and knowing how little stock car experience his driver has, Eury Jr. wants to run next Saturday.

"We'll just keep talking and she'll keep asking questions [but] Saturday was the most homework she could do as far as getting ready for a [Nationwide] race or California," Eury Jr. said. "If she decides she wants to come next week that would be great, if she don't that's great, we'll go to California and have a good time. I'm just glad to be around her and it's cool.

"I would love for her to come back here and run next week. I think she can do it. I mean, are you going to come out here and run top-five in a Nationwide race? You'd have to have a lot of luck. But to come down here and get experience -- I think she showed right there at the end that she's very capable of knowing how to draft and how to do it."

Earnhardt, knowing the financial windfall that comes with the whirlwind of attention constantly swirling around Patrick -- not to mention her brother, JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. who'll be her teammate next weekend -- wants her to run.

"I'm ecstatic," Kelley Earnhardt said. "I think she showed us she was able to drive, definitely. One time I seen her up on the high side, and then she pulled down low and I'm thinking 'come on, let's pull off an Earnhardt and pass 18 cars in three laps and win this thing.'

"But she did fantastic for her first stock car race. She was aggressive, didn't back out of it and we brought home a good finish. The team did a great job and the communication was there, she was asking a lot of questions and learning a lot.

"I'm 50-50. I want to see her out there doing it, because this is what we signed up to do but at the same time there's a lot of experience out there that I don't know if she's ready for and you're not going to know until she gets out there so it's just going to be something that we all discuss and think about."

Patrick herself, with very little time in stock cars and equally as few hours as a member of the JR Motorsports ensemble; showed she knows everything about being the best teammate possible.

"I don't think I've made any decisions on Saturday, I'll be thinking about [Saturday] and what I can do better," Patrick said of the coming decision. "We've not talked at all about what's going on next weekend. We needn't forget that Kelly's [Bires] running the whole season and it's me or him [next weekend].

"He's been a great teammate and we haven't made any decision."

But concern over Bires' chance at the championship is moot, according to Kelley Earnhardt.

"Kelly is probably not going to get a full season in regardless of whether or not he starts the 300 for us because of some other economic issues on down the way for us with the schedule," Earnhardt said. "I'd like to see him be in the 300 because we signed him up first and that's what he wants to do, but we'll just have to see if that works out."

"Pops" Eury spent Saturday back in North Carolina, shining up the cars that Dale Earnhardt Jr. and a JR teammate will drive next weekend. He couldn't add a voice to the debate, but he's a racer. He wants Patrick here.

A record six women started the ARCA race, yet the one with the least experience, Patrick, led the way at the end. What she learned was significant, and her enthusiasm was infectious.

From this angle, I'd say it's a lock Buescher and Patrick will be drafting together next week when Nationwide Series practice starts -- with Earnhardt Jr. thrown in for good measure.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.