Archives for November 2009

Compared to most of her Twilight: New Moon co-stars, 15-year-old Dakota Fanning  who plays the powerful Volturi Jane  is already an old hand at movie-making.

But behind the star of hits like War of the Worlds (2005) and I Am Sam (2001) is a surprisingly normal student at an L.A. high school.

On the Monday after New Moon’s record-breaking bow, Fanning made time for a quick pre-class chat with EW about the Twilight phenomenon and the joys of playing a villain.

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There is still no clear timeline for a decision in the will-she-or-won't-she storyline surrounding Danica Patrick's possible foray into stock-car racing, but it hasn't stopped the conjecture about her potential impact.

Three weeks ago, there were reports that Patrick's arrival was imminent, but nothing has changed officially.

She remains a curiosity and her plans regarding NASCAR remain uncertain.  But that hasn't stopped the chatter, or the debate about what she would bring.

“Danica has obviously taken a very hard look at this sport,” NASCAR president Brian France said at Homestead, where NASCAR's Sprint Cup season ended Sunday.

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Danica Patrick was just here at Homestead-Miami Speedway, racing hard and soaking up the same South Florida sun that blessed her 2008 Sports Illustrated swimsuit model shoot on Singer Island.  Maybe you missed it. Last month? Indy cars? Nineteenth-place finish? Ringing any bells yet?  Doesn't matter. Whatever Danica does or doesn't do in any race but the Indianapolis 500 fades pretty quickly in the public mind, if it registers at all.

What a waste of mind-blowing media-frenzy potential. She knows it, or else Danica wouldn't have made a tour of several NASCAR shops this year, asking smart questions and cementing friendships with drivers such as Tony Stewart, a former IndyCar series champion who made the switch to America's thunderous favorite, the personality-driven world of Sprint Cup stock cars.

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Okay, Danica, enough. Hurry up and make a freakin' decision already. In the latest twist to the never-ending Danica Patrick story -- I swear, this thing has more plodding chapters than.

A Russian novel -- Rick Hendrick has said that there is, at present, no deal to bring Danica to NASCAR to run.

In a partial Nationwide season. Previously, Danica was supposed to be in the last stages of a deal to come drive for Dale Earnhardt Jr. and JR Motorsports, but we've heard nothing more since then.

This past weekend in Phoenix, Hendrick, co-owner of JR Motorsports, threw a bit of cold water on the steamy Danica rumors.

"I just think that [Danica and her management team] are not even close to making a decision on whether to even do it this year or next year," Hendrick said.

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It's been assumed recently that there's a deal in place to bring IndyCar driver Danica Patrick to NASCAR next season for a limited number of races, but team owner Rick Hendrick reportedly told the Associated Press yesterday that no such deal is in place.

Hendrick isn't sure she'll be in NASCAR at all next year, either: "I just think that they are not even close to making a decision on whether to even do it this year or next year," he said of Patrick and her IMG reps.

"You never know until it's done. You never know until it's signed. And anybody can change their mind. When you get down to the nitty gritty of any deal, it's always complicated. There can always be someone who comes back and says `I can't do it because of this.'"

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Although there is still time to change plans, Automobile Racing Club of America series officials confirmed Friday they have not received an entry for IndyCar Series star Danica Patrick.

Patrick is rumored to be interested in running the 2010 ARCA season opener at Daytona. There has also been discussion of her participation in.

A December testing session the series has scheduled at the 2.5-mile speedway in advance of February's racing.

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Danica Patrick is chasing the money. Well guess what? So am I. Many NASCAR fans and commentators appear to be shocked (SHOCKED!) that a one-time IRL winner would try to get $300,000 a race, according to some reports, for part-time duties in NASCAR’s Nationwide and Truck series. And here is a person who hasn’t driven a single NASCAR race and has only a single IRL victory to her credit.

But let’s be honest with ourselves here. Danica Patrick is trying to make as much money as she possibly can -- and that’s exactly what you or I do in our own working lives. In the end the sums of money that athletes or actors (or anyone else, for that matter) make aren’t reflections of moral worth or value to society. They’re just reflections of the law of supply and demand.

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What's the best way to push criticism out of today's sports news cycle? Simple: Come up with other news to overshadow the criticism.

Danica Patrick's publicized negotiations with JR Motorsports this week proved curious timing at best, considering the outrage resulting from last Sunday's lackluster race at Talladega.

Her flirtation with stock cars was re-elevated to nationwide status by an ESPN story, even though SI.com's Bruce Martin first reported it back in the beginning of October.

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Danica Patrick is the final stages of negotiations on a two-year contract with JR Motorsports, the NASCAR Nationwide Series operation owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr., sources tell ESPN.
Patrick is expected to make her debut with the team at Daytona next February.

Patrick signed a three-year extension with Andretti Green Racing to continue driving for the team in the Indy Racing League, which made many believe she would not enter NASCAR any time soon. 

The IRL has a 17-race schedule, meaning Patrick will probably not race a full-time schedule for JR Motorsports’ Nationwide team, ESPN reports.

Notably, GoDaddy.com is a sponsor of both Patrick and the No. 88 Chevrolet that JR Motorsports runs in the Nationwide Series. Brad Keselowski currently pilots that car, but is leaving at the end of the season to drive for Penske Racing in Sprint Cup.

I have what I fondly refer to as a “gut meter” in my stomach. No, it’s not a reference to the round mound of blubber that sits around my waist (which, by the way, since I believe in full disclosure, I’m working on getting rid of).

Rather, my gut meter is a hunch machine, and more often than not, it has about 98 to 99 percent accuracy.

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