Surprise, surprise … affirming what I’d heard weeks ago, I’ve learned Danica Patrick will run in the Nationwide Series race this Saturday, February 13th. Patrick claims she was going to make a final decision after the ARCA event, but sources had told me her “stellar” performance that would send her from there to Nationwide would be nothing more than getting in the car, taking the green, and completing a handful of laps.

Patrick’s move does leave Kelly Bires on the outside looking in, however. The full-time replacement for Brad Keselowski in the No. 88 apparently does not have a sponsor willing to back him, putting Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in that seat for Daytona. No word on whether the team would let Bires jump in another ride for the 300-miler.

I spoke with a source last night who told me NASCAR cut purses 10 percent across the board for Cup, Nationwide, and Trucks for 2010. The move makes sense in the face of declining attendance and overall revenue, but will hurt the small, unsponsored teams simply relying on purse money to get them from race to race – making start-and-parking even more likely.

Source: “I’d say you’d be lucky to have 20 Nationwide cars racing for the spots, and the other 23 cars will be starting and parking.” I think that’s a little exaggerated, personally, but even the most optimistic totals leave us with 10-12 start and parkers for Nationwide as early as California in February.

Our new site design is finally up and running! Please bear with us while we work out all the kinks in the system; for the first 24 hours or so, we’re still linking all the pages to all the right places and getting everything to work all over again. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to let us know what you think of the new look! Email us at editors@frontstretch.com.