Rockford, Illinois-Speculation that former Roscoe resident Danica Patrick will move part-time into NASCAR racing next year might soon be confirmed.  According to  Ryan McGee of ESPN The Magazine Patrick is close to an agreement on a two-year contract with J.R. Motorsports to compete on NASCAR's Nationwide Series next year.

J.R. Motorsports is owned by NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Junior.  Neither Patrick nor Earnhardt are commenting on the report.  But last month Earnhardt did confirm that he and Patrick are friends, and he was highly complimentary of Patrick's racing ability.

"She's made it to the top level of motorsports in open wheel in North America," Earnhardt said. "Any driver in that position has talent. She's very competitive and has an extremely competitive side to her around the race track and in and around her program."

Patrick recently signed a three-year contract extension with Andretti-Green Racing to continue competing on the IndyCar Series full time.  That means any racing should would do on the Nationwide Series in 2010 would be on a part-time basis.  She would race perhaps eight to ten events while also competing in all 17 IndyCar events.

The Nationwide Series is NASCAR's second largest series.  It's one notch below the Sprint Cup Series.

Some racing insiders speculate that Patrick could hold a press conference next week to make an announcement on her future plans when the Sprint Cup Series is in her current hometown of Phoenix.