Danica in Vegas

As I mentioned earlier, Wisconsin native IRL and NASCAR star Danica Patrick is racing again today:

The highly anticipated three-race NASCAR debut by Danica Patrick wraps up at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, in the Sam’s Town 300.

The first two Nationwide races of the year have had the spotlight shining squarely on Patrick’s foray into stock-car racing. Saturday will be Patrick’s last stock car event before she goes on a four-month hiatus to return to driving full-time in the IndyCar Series. She’ll return to the NASCAR Nationwide Series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June.

It’ll be interesting to see how the transition from one to the other and back again goes.

More: she’s popular in Vegas. Go figure.

The face the speedway hoped would launch the sale of thousands of tickets belongs to Danica Patrick, the first woman to win an IndyCar race and the most popular pin-up in racing history.

The strategy has worked.

Speedway president Chris Powell said this week that he estimates Patrick has been responsible for selling upward of 15,000 tickets for today’s Sam’s Town 300.

Race starts at 3:46 Wisconsin time. Go Danica!