IndyCar: Danica Patrick to give Indianapolis 500 one final shot in 2019

Danica Patrick retired following the 2018 Indianapolis 500. But she is set to make her final Indy 500 start and her final IndyCar start in 2019 — for real this time.

The “Danica Double” was supposed to be the two-race ending to Danica Patrick’s career as a professional race car driver. Patrick, who competed in IndyCar on a full-time basis from the 2005 season through the 2011 season, left the series to competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in the 2012 season before she was promoted to the Cup Series for the 2013 season.

The 37-year-old Beloit, Wisconsin native competed in the Cup Series on a full-time basis until the 2017 season. Before the 2017 season ended, she announced that it would be her final season as a full-time Cup Series driver but that she would not officially retire until competing in one more Cup Series race, the 2018 Daytona 500, and one more IndyCar race, the 2018 Indianapolis 500.

Patrick crashed in both races of the “Danica Double”. While she was known to crash in her days as a full-time Cup Series driver, her crash in the Indy 500 ended what was a 50-race streak of races that she started and finished. This streak spanned from the 2009 season through the 2011 season, as the 2018 Indy 500 was her first IndyCar race since the 2011 season finale.

More from IndyCar

But while she announced her retirement after shooting down rumors of returning to either race of the “Danica Double” after crashing in both of them in 2018 and NBC Sports announced in March that she was set to join their broadcast team for the 2019 Indy 500, she has revealed that she has unfinished business at 16th and Georgetown in Speedway, Indiana.

That’s right; Danica Patrick is set to return to the Indy 500 — not for the opportunity to serve as a studio analyst, but for one final opportunity to put her face on the Borg-Warner Trophy.

For the ninth time in her career, Patrick is set to attempt to qualify for the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Like she did in the 102nd running of the race last year, Patrick is set to carry primary sponsorship from GoDaddy, which served as her primary sponsor for several of her seasons as a full-time IndyCar and NASCAR driver.

For the 103rd running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, however, Patrick is set to drive for a team that she has never driven for at any point in her career as a professional race car driver. Instead of driving for Ed Carpenter Racing like she did last year, she is set to drive for Team Penske in their fifth Chevrolet-powered car.

Here is what Patrick had to say about the opportunity to drive for 17-time Indy 500-winning team, according to a trusted inside source.

"“I made a deal with [boyfriend] Aaron [Rodgers] before last year’s Indy 500 that if I didn’t finish the race and the [Green Bay] Packers didn’t make it to the [NFL] playoffs, I would give it one more shot. So everything fell into place once again, and here I am. I am so grateful to Team Penske and GoDaddy and everyone who has made this possible. I am here to win, not as a sideshow. And I think this is my best chance to prove it.“The whole deal with NBC Sports was just kind of meant as a distraction. Last year there were all kinds of rumors that I wouldn’t get a ride and so on and so forth just because it took longer than we would’ve liked, but this really allowed us to focus on the task at hand this time around.”"

Patrick drove the #13 Chevrolet in last year’s Indy 500, and she is set to do so again in this year’s edition of the race. She is set to be a teammate to full-time drivers Josef Newgarden, Will Power and Simon Pagenaud, who drive the #2 Chevrolet, the #12 Chevrolet and the #22 Chevrolet, as well as three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves, who is set to drive the #3 Chevrolet.

Here is what Team Penske team owner Roger Penske had to say about the addition of Patrick to his team’s driver lineup for the 103rd running of the Indy 500, according to the same inside source.

"“We’re happy to have Danica and GoDaddy with us for our fifth entry in this year’s 500 as we try to snag win number 18 for the organization. We feel that she completes what will be an ultra-competitive lineup, and given her history at the track, we have not doubt that she will be at the front when it matters most.”"

In eight career Indy 500 starts, Patrick has finished the race six times, and she has finished it in the top 10 each time. She earned a career-high third place finish in the 93rd running of the race back in 2009, and she was the race’s Rookie of the Year back in its 89th running in 2005 when she finished in fourth.

In nine Indy 500 starts, however, no one will ever know what Patrick’s statistics would look like. Her ninth career Indy 500 start doesn’t exist, nor does a fifth Team Penske car for this year’s race. But for the next several hours, you have no reason not to believe, as today is, in fact, April Fools’ Day.

Top 10 Indianapolis 500 drivers of all-time. dark. Next

Be sure to tune in to NBC‘s live broadcast of the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 from Indianapolis Motor Speedway beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, May 26 to see how the race’s 33 drivers, none of whom actually named Danica Patrick, will perform.