Auto racing driver Danica Patrick speaks with reporters during NASCAR media day at Daytona International Speedway, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Auto racing driver Danica Patrick speaks with reporters during NASCAR media day at Daytona International Speedway, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
Auto racing driver Danica Patrick applies makeup before a television interview during NASCAR media day at Daytona International Speedway, Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)
FILE - In this Nov. 3, 2012, file photo, drivers Danica Patrick, left, talks with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., as they wait on pit road during qualifying for a NASCAR Nationwide series auto race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Patrick slid into her chair at NASCAR media day Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013 and promptly informed her audience she'd only answer racing-related questions. Then she proceeded to talk candidly about her relationship with fellow driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. .(AP Photo/Randy Holt, File)
FILE - In this May 19, 2012 file photo, Danica Patrick speaks during a news conference as Ricky Stenhouse Jr., right, looks on before qualifying for the NASCAR Nationwide Series' Pioneer Hi-Bred 250 auto race at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. Patrick slid into her chair at NASCAR media day Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013 and promptly informed her audience she'd only answer racing-related questions. Then she proceeded to talk candidly about her relationship with fellow driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? Danica Patrick slid into her chair at NASCAR media day Thursday and promptly informed her audience it would be race questions only.
Yeah, right. The ensuing 20-plus minutes consisted mostly of questions about her relationship with fellow driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Patrick dutifully answered them all. She and Stenhouse better get used to this, at least in the early going.
Patrick and Stenhouse confirmed in January they are dating, and the duo will be competing against each other this year for Sprint Cup rookie of the year.
"Initially, it was a little bit of a mental hurdle of like, 'We compete against each other,' " Patrick said of the relationship, which she likened to Romeo and Juliet. "It's like the Capulets and Montagues with (me in) Chevy and (him in) Ford, this just doesn't work. But you can't tell your heart who to like or not like. And so in the end, it ended up being something that I just didn't think was a big deal at all."
The two spent the last two seasons racing in the Nationwide Series and Patrick leaned on Stenhouse, the two-time Nationwide champion, for friendship and advice after her move to NASCAR. She said the relationship grew deeper, and they went public after she filed for divorce in early January from her husband, Paul Hospenthal. She and Hospenthal announced in November they were splitting up after seven years of marriage.
The 30-year-old Patrick rarely talked about her personal life while married to Hospenthal, but she was open Thursday about the 25-year-old Stenhouse.
"I'm just relaxed," Patrick said. "I feel happy. I feel like I am enjoying my life. It makes me smile to talk about him. I feel like I'm on 'The Bachelorette.'"
The relationship is fodder for endless jokes and razzing from fellow competitors, and most were eager to dive into the topic Thursday.
"Pat on the back for him," said Ty Dillon.
"We can come up with plenty of jokes and how humorous it could be on the track and what each of them are thinking ? we'll all be watching with great curiosity, for sure," said Jimmie Johnson.
But if the two have an incident on the track? "That would be one heck of a show," Johnson said. "I'm sure ratings would go up quite a bit. You never know. Danica has shown she can get quite upset at times, so there could be something going on."
Patrick was ready for all the ribbing, and even joked about what would happen if Stenhouse wrecked her on the track.
"He better have a really good, 'I'm sorry,'" Patrick said with a wink.
The duo is moving forward with their relationship, with Patrick saying she planned to cook for Stenhouse on Valentine's Day and she packed an entire suitcase full of gifts for her boyfriend. She also told reporters how after so many months of hanging out with Stenhouse, she had to push him to ask her out on an official date.
Defending Sprint Cup champion Brad Keselowski cautioned that things could get sticky with the happy couple.
"It's difficult because there's that part of you that thinks, 'Ah, this is a little hokie. Can we just focus on the on-track part?'" he said. "But you have to understand that as a race car driver, you make life decisions that put you in a position of danger all the time, 24-7, and that inherently makes you a unique person and the decisions you make in your mental process to get there unique. And whatever outside influences you have are going to affect how you perform.
"So it makes it a story because there's no way for it not to affect their performance. It ties back in. I think it's not really much of a story that their dating as it is as much of a story if they were to break up. That would be incredible to watch, to be quite honest with you. There's so many different ways that could go. I mean, imagine if they were to break up and then wreck each other for like the next six races because they were mad?"
Johnson said Patrick and Stenhouse have to keep their relationship from spilling onto the track.
"If it does, it's going to impact their lifestyle and their job," Johnson said. "We're paid to go on the racetrack and race. So if they're handling things differently on the track because of their personal relationship, it's going to affect their jobs; their owners aren't going to be happy or their sponsors."
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Follow Jenna Fryer online: https://twitter.com/JennaFryer and http://racing.ap.org
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