Posted by Sabrina B. @gametimegirl

Danica Patrick’s long-awaited debut in the Sprint Cup Series will come in the 2012 season-opening Daytona 500, Patrick and Stewart-Haas Racing confirmed Friday at Texas Motor Speedway.

Patrick is in Texas to race the first of the final three 2011 Nationwide Series races she’ll contest before doing the full 2012 Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports.

She’s so focused on her Nationwide effort, off the top of her head she couldn’t tick off all her additional Cup races, though initially she listed “Bristol, Darlington, Atlanta, Chicago, Daytona — that’s what I can remember.”

At the announcement, the full schedule came into play. As did some of the factors that played into determining the schedule.

“The most weighted factor [in determining the schedule] was places that might be a challenge — places that had unique characteristics, that would be good to get some extra laps at,” Patrick said. “That was pretty much the biggest thing, at this point in time.

“At a place like Darlington, for example, where I’ll run the Cup and Nationwide cars together, one absolutely will help the other. Tony [Eury Jr., Nationwide crew chief] has said sometimes the Cup guys like to do the Nationwide races to get more laps so they get more comfortable on the track.

“Sometimes guys like to do races at places they’re good at, so they can just have fun — like [Dale Earnhardt] Junior at Bristol, or something. But for me, it’s going to be about laps.”

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WRITTEN BY Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM & FULL STORY HERE