Danica Patrick announces 2012 Cup schedule and number

The biggest star in NASCAR is now Danica Patrick

Tony Stewart announced Danica Patrick's slate of Sprint Cup races in 2012 and revealed her new car number and paint scheme. Patrick, a seven-year veteran of the IZOD IndyCar Series where she became the first woman in series history to win a race, is making the full transition to stock cars in 2012, competing in the entire NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule for JR Motorsports and a 10-race Sprint Cup schedule for SHR. Patrick's Sprint Cup debut will come in the 54th annual Daytona 500 on Feb. 26 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

Her remaining Sprint Cup races are as follows: May 12 -Darlington; Aug. 25 -Bristol; Sept. 2 – Atlanta; Sept. 16: Chicagoland; Sept. 30 – Dover; Nov. 4 – Texas; Nov. 11 – Phoenix. Two Sprint Cup races are to be determined, with the plan being to assess Patrick's development in the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series as the season progresses and then choose the remaining venues based on need and competitive reasoning. In addition to the schedule, Stewart and Patrick also took the wraps off the GoDaddy.com Chevy Patrick will race for SHR in Sprint Cup.

The bright green machine will feature the #10, which Patrick used throughout her early racing career in karting before moving to Europe where she competed in Formula Ford and Formula Vauxhall – stepping-stone divisions to Formula 1. TrueSpeed Communications