For a 10-day-long auto event that culminates with the most important race on the NASCAR calendar, the focus wasn't entirely racing at the media day that took place Thursday, Valentine's Day, as all eyes were on the increasingly public relationship between Danica Patrick and two-time Nationwide series champion Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
In a rare NASCAR coincidence, two drivers that are dating will also be racing against each other at speeds up to 190 mph in the Sprint Cup Series.
The first 11 answers Patrick, 30, gave to questions from reporters at media day were about her relationship with Stenhouse, 25, which was made public several weeks ago, an article from Scripps Newspapers stated.
Both Patrick, who drives the No. 10 Chevrolet, and Stenhouse, driver of the No. 17 Ford, are new to the Sprint Cup. They first met on the Nationwide series in 2010, an event they were each new to at the time, the article stated.
"I think for everybody to assume it is going to make me race any different is wrong," Stenhouse said, according to reprts. "It's not going to. I am respectful to my teammates and I will be respectful to her, but I am respectful to everyone on the race track. I don't feel like if somebody crashes her I am going to go crash them because of it.
"I am out there to do my job. I am out there to put on the best performance I can for my sponsors, my team and my fans. I can't get caught up in any of that. She has been racing for a long time and can handle that situation and I will handle mine," he said.
While Stenhouse is the more decorated racer, Patrick is a force to be reckoned with, having made a name for herself racing IndyCar for six years, becoming the only woman to win a race in an IndyCar series and by ranking third in the 2009 Indanapolis 500 earning the record for the highest finish by a female driver in the iconic race, according to Scripps.
In this year's Sprint Cup, Stenhouse will drive for the Roush Fenway Racing team. In the 2010 Nationwide series he took honor for rookie of the year, winning eight races and earning 62 top-ten finishes.
"Our relationship isn't my most important story," Stenhouse said. "I am here to race, but it is something that you are going to have to deal with and just move on."
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