Is this Danica’s last Indy 500?

The 100th annual Indy 500 takes place on Sunday, but the big question surrounding the race isn’t “who’ll win?” It’s “wll she or won’t she?”

There are two Danica Patricks – Danica the Racer and Danica the Brand.

If the future were up to Danica the Racer, chances are she’d stay right where she is, racing in IndyCar and focusing all her energy on the thing that matters most to her as a competitor: winning the Indianapolis 500.

But Danica the Brand says go south, young lady, to the land of NASCAR and those extra zeros before the decimal point.

Could Danica the Brand maybe squeeze another Sports Illustrated photo shoot in there somewhere? I’m just askin’.

Regardless, all the “will she or won’t she” hype might be just that:

The hot rumor in both Charlotte and Indianapolis this week is that Danica Patrick is running in her last Indy 500 as a fulltime open-wheel driver, and that she’ll make the jump to NASCAR once and for all in 2012. Is it true? Perhaps, perhaps not, but here’s a clue: Patrick learned about this particular rumor from television.

I don’t suppose that, by “television,” she means “reading TrogloPundit?” No?

Well, feh.

Anyway:

“There have not been decisions made,” Patrick said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I’ll let you all know when I can and when the time is right. But it’s a long ways away from where we are now.”

In other words: “don’t stop talking about me!” To which we say: “okay!”