To grab headlines, IndyCar to pay for Danica to run Indy 500 (Update)

UPDATE A reader writes, Dear AR1.com, Doesn't IndyCar ever learn? They rode Fernando Alonso's coattails this past year at Indy and now they are going to ride Danica's in 2018. This is IndyCar's one-and-done mentality. Alonso's fans came and now they are gone. Danica's fans will come, and then they will be gone. Other ride-buyers come, and then their fans are gone. IndyCar has zero long term strategy to make their regular drivers household names. Instead they think they can buy 'star power,' which is so very short sighted. But isn't that why IndyCar is where it is since Tony George destroyed CART? Mordichai Rosen, Los Angeles

Can Indycar exploit Danica as much as they exploited Alonso in 2017?

12/29/17 Despite all the uncertainty over Danica Patrick’s proposed 2018 plans, one IndyCar expert is convinced that she will be on the grid for the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500.

Robin Miller offered a bold take in response to one fan’s question about whether Patrick will actually run the Indy 500, predicting that she will — and the Verizon IndyCar Series will foot the bill, according to RACER. Patrick said during her retirement press conference that she intends to race in both the Indy 500 and Daytona 500 in 2018, though she didn’t reveal how she plans to do so.

Many speculated Chip Ganassi would offer her an IndyCar seat, but the team owner said he thinks there is a “small chance" that she will drive for him.

“I’m starting to think she threw the idea out there without having a sponsor lined up, so right now I’d say her best shot is if IndyCar picks up the tab, because it definitely wants her in the show," Miller wrote. “So, yes, I think it will happen, but even though Ganassi admitted he’d talked with her people, there’s not been any movement lately in terms of a sponsor."