Martin may coach Danica

Can Mark Martin turn Danica Patrick from a backmarker to a winner?

Danica Patrick has spoken with NASCAR's #5-Mark Martin about working with her and says she's open to any help she can get in figuring out the nuances of driving stock cars. "It would be nice if somebody could help me, whoever it is — I would take any help," Patrick said. "Like Martin said, you need somebody to get in the car and say this is the setup, go drive it after they've driven it. It's one thing to say drive this line, do this or that, but when you don't have maybe the car that can do that, it's just words, so it would be nice for someone to throw me in a car after they've driven it so I get a real feel for it." Patrick's part-time foray into NASCAR hasn't gone particularly well as she's tried to get a feel for the harder-to-drive stock cars. She ran the first three Nationwide races of the season, finishing no higher than 31st, and added four more races when she had breaks in the IndyCar season with similar results. Now that the open-wheel season is over, Patrick is slated to run the final six Nationwide races, starting Saturday at Auto Club, and hopes the consistency of no longer flip-flopping between series will turn out better results ESPN/Associated Press