Dale Earnhardt Jr. said there was "nothing new" to his team's discussions with Danica Patrick about joining his JR Motorsports team, telling the Associated Press on Friday at Texas Motor Speedway that other teams were still competing for Patrick's services.
Patrick is believed to have discussed a possible NASCAR program with Tony Stewart's and Michael Waltrip's teams as well, but JR Motorsport – the team co-owned by Earnhardt and his Sprint Cup Series car owner, Rick Hendrick – is considered the frontrunner to make a deal with Patrick due to its affiliation with GoDaddy.com, a longtime personal sponsor of Patrick.
ESPN reported earlier this week that a deal was close to being finalized with JR Motorsports that would have her running a partial Nationwide Series and ARCA Re/Max Series schedule in addition to her IndyCar Series schedule. Patrick is believed to have re-signed with Michael Andretti's IndyCar team for another three years, although there has been no official confirmation of that. Meanwhile, Earnhardt Jr. limited himself to saying that Patrick would be a positive addition. "She will be good for NASCAR, whoever gets her," Earnhardt told the AP.