ESPN Ryan McGee Blog

During my Wednesday segment on "NASCAR Now" (see above) we first discussed NASCAR's decision to standardize green flag times in 2010. Then we turned our attention to Danica Patrick. How omnipotent and omnipresent is Danica Watch 2009?

It's the one story this season that has always had the ability to trump the Jeremy Mayfield Meth Wars and the Dale Earnhardt Jr. soap opera.

Last week when it was announced that Patrick was re-upping with Andretti Green Racing through 2013, everyone acted like any chance of Danica ever racing stock cars was deader than the Studebaker.

Not quite.

Following a hunch, I cruised over to the 2010 Indy Racing League schedule. It took about 10 seconds to confirm what I'd already suspected. The open-wheel calendar is custom-made for moonlighting. It's only 17 races, with more than a dozen open weekends jammed in between, and that doesn't include all of the sitting that comes during the methodical month of May at Indianapolis. What's more, the IRL season doesn't start until the weekend of March 14 in Brazil, more than a month after NASCAR's start in Daytona, and it ends the first weekend of October at the Homestead-Miami Speedway, six weeks before the NASCAR finale at the same track.

"There is a lot of downtime in that series," two-time IRL champ Sam Hornish Jr. admitted to me at Bristol in August. "You don't really realize how much there is when you're there. Then you come over to NASCAR where it is 24/7 for 11 months out of the year. You wonder where all your time went. That's the biggest adjustment when you make the move, even more than the different car."

In other words. these NASCAR folks, they like to race. A lot. And that means there are plenty of opportunities for Patrick to fill her IRL downtime with an A-B-C (ARCA-Busch-Cup) schedule. Let's take a look at what Danica's spring 2010 calendar would look like if she packed it to its potential. I personally don't think she'll run this much, but the opportunity is there if she wants it.

* I hadn't thought of this until my ESPN.com colleague David Newton talked about it with Lowe's Motor Speedway president Marcus Smith on Tuesday.

In the days since Danica's AGR announcement, two NASCAR teams, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s JR Motorsports and Michael Waltrip Racing, have admitted to talking with her about her stock-car plans. At least two other teams have repeatedly admitted interest, including Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart-Haas Racing, despite reports that her financial demands are getting out of hand (rumors have her asking for $1 million per start for a part-time schedule).

Still, the Danica chatter in the NASCAR paddock hasn't slowed one bit since her IRL re-up.

Why? Because like me, they have already compared the calendars for 2010. And as hard as it might seem logistically to fly her from car to car and track to track for the next three years, the most recognizable face in American racing behind the wheel of a car sanctioned by America's biggest racing body would bring in so much money for all parties involved that it would more than be worth the price of all that jet fuel.

This ain't your grandpappy's NASCAR

If you were watching "Dancing With The Stars" on Tuesday night and were suddenly overcome with the desire to run out your driveway and change all the tires on the minivan, don't worry. You aren't crazy. Queen Latifah sent those stock-car subliminal messages into your brain during the rap-infused bridge of her new single, "Fast Car." Seriously. What she said was, "NASCAR, NASCAR, drive me like it's NASCAR/Circle me around the track/Don't stop until we pass y'all."

Don't believe me? The proof never lies far (check around 1:53 mark).

Racing with the stars

When NASCAR migrated out West to SoCal, there promised to be a star-studded track for the race run closest to Hollywood. Over the years, the pit lane at the Auto Club Speedway has been walked by the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sly Stallone, James Caan and frequent visitor Tom Cruise.

This year's celebrity roster isn't bad, depending on your age. Kelly Osbourne will throw the green flag for Saturday's Nationwide Series event, while Audrina Partridge -- who I have been informed is on MTV's "The Hills" -- will do those honors for the Sunday Cup race. Actor John C. Reilly will be grand marshal Saturday. Race fans know him as the only man to star in each of the two highest-grossing NASCAR movies of all time, playing crewman Buck Bretherton in "Days of Thunder" and driver Cal Naughton Jr. in "Talladega Nights." (Take your pick: "Damn nice to meet you, Cole …" or "Shake and bake!") The Sunday GM will be Kelsey "Frasier" Grammer. Oh, and Foreigner will be shooting a music video for its new song "Can't Slow Down" at the track the morning prior to the race.

And we almost forgot, Christian Slater will be driving the pace car for Sunday's Pepsi 500. Don't laugh. He was bad fast in "The Legend of Billie Jean."

Season's tweetings

Leave a NASCAR racer at home with time to kill and a pest control problem and this is what you get: @Regan_Smith_ : "Just found an ant mound in the yard, i'm thinking a fire and explosion will be way more fun than ant killer from the store"