FONTANA, Calif. -- The electronic marquee towering above Interstate 10 flashes ticket prices and upcoming events, and reminds passers-by of all the main attractions this race weekend at Auto Club Speedway. There's the classic rock band Styx, which will play Sunday morning prior to the Sprint Cup event. There's former wrestling star "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, who will wave the green flag to start the race. And up there in lights, the visage of one driver -- Danica Patrick.

And why not? Southern California is the perfect place for NASCAR's newest media star, who rivaled Daytona 500 champion Jamie McMurray this week in terms of attention. Tuesday brought a taping with Ellen DeGeneres. Wednesday, appearances with Bonnie Hunt, Ryan Seacrest, and Chelsea Handler. Thursday, a visit to Jimmy Kimmel's late night program.

"I'm still washing off the eye makeup," Patrick joked. In the driver's meeting prior to Saturday's Nationwide event, track president Gillian Zucker took the exceedingly rare step of personally thanking Patrick for her help in promoting the race. Even the glitterati seemed star-stuck -- when Kate Voegele, the 23-year-old One Tree Hill actress and musician who sang the national anthem, was asked which driver she was pulling for, she didn't even hesitate.

"I'm excited to meet Danica," she said. "She's pretty cool."

That she is. Patrick has the celebrity side of her job down pat, seemingly as comfortable on a talk-show couch as she is behind the wheel of a race car, certainly aware that her venture into NASCAR has created a buzz she'd be crazy not to take advantage of. Patrick's aura is glowing brighter than at any time since she took Indianapolis by storm in 2005, and the series is gaining much-needed attention -- as evidenced by those Nationwide TV numbers from last week -- as a result. From a publicity perspective, this nascent dalliance between stock-car racing and open-wheel's biggest star has been nothing short of a bonanza, even if the crowd at the 2-mile speedway on Saturday was a little weaker than expected.

If only driving the race car were as simple. No question, Patrick has talent -- you could see it two weeks ago in the Daytona ARCA race, her stock-car debut, when she made passes someone with her level of inexperience wasn't supposed to make. But we're not at big, wide, hold-it-to-the-floor Daytona anymore. California is much more representative of the types of intermediate tracks that dominate the NASCAR circuit, venues where drivers do much more of the work, places where things like corner entry points are absolutely crucial and horsepower helps you only so much. And for Patrick, Saturday offered a sometimes-trying introduction to a more prototypical NASCAR event. (Continued)