Kyle Busch says Danica Patrick will do fine in NASCAR

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When Danica Patrick makes her debut in NASCAR’s Nationwide Series next season, no one will be harder for her to pass than Kyle Busch, the no-holds-barred driver in NASCAR’s premier Sprint Cup Series who also won this year’s championship in the second-level Nationwide Series.

But Busch said today that he expects Patrick should be fine in stock-car racing, in which she plans to drive Nationwide cars prepared by JR Motorsports, a team co-owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., around her schedule on the Izod IndyCar Series.

‘I think she’ll do OK,’ Busch said in an interview after announcing that his own team, Kyle Busch Motorsports, would field two Toyotas next year in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series. ‘It’s definitely tough to come over from such a different kind of racing. But she’s going to have a lot of great help from Dale Jr. and the rest of the folks at JR Motorsports.

‘If she ever came to me, I’d be glad to help her and give her some advice,’ said Busch, who, at 24, has won a combined 62 races in NASCAR’s Cup, Nationwide and truck series. ‘I wish her the best.’

Busch said he would share driving duties in one of his team’s two NASCAR trucks next season with 24-year-old Brian Ickler, and 20-year-old Tayler Malsam would drive a full schedule in the other Toyota Tundra.

-- Jim Peltz