Catchfence

There’s a woman at JR Motorsports who had to make a tough decision on making a career of racing in NASCAR.
It’s not Danica Patrick. It’s the woman who signed the IndyCar dynamo to a two-year deal with the Nationwide team.

More than a decade after flashes of brilliance during a three-year run in street stocks, Kelley Earnhardt, 37, still laments whether she could have emerged as a female driving star on par with Patrick.

“I definitely wanted to be,” the oldest daughter of the late Dale Earnhardt says with a laugh during an interview a few weeks before Patrick joined JR Motorsports. “I just think it was the timing. It wasn’t the right timing. If I were 10 years younger, I’d still be giving it my all.

- USA Today