CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will compete against each other in one race after Patrick confirmed the NASCAR couple’s split in December.

They’ll be on the track for the Daytona 500 in February – Patrick’s final NASCAR race and the first of what’s now being called the Danica Double. She will also compete in the Indy 500 in May before retiring from racing.

Even though they broke up – they were together for nearly five years – Stenhouse said Tuesday at the NASCAR Media Tour that he’s not going to race her any differently now, pointing to the respect they’ve always had for each other on the track.

Does Patrick plan to change the way she races him? “Not at all,” she told For The Win in a phone interview Wednesday.

She added:

“I heard his interview, and I agree. If we can help each other – if helping him helps me – so be it. Vice versa. I agree with all that. When we first met, there was already respect there from the very beginning when we were just friends, so I don’t see that changing at all. It’s not going to change for me.”

Patrick echoed Stenhouse’s comments about racing her just like everybody else in the field. He explained Tuesday:

“If it helps me, I’ll help (her) – kind of the same way I do everybody else out there,” he added. “I think if I can help and it’s going to benefit myself, then I will. I try not to help people if it’s only going to benefit them on the race track.”

Monday, it was announced that Patrick will drive the No. 7 Chevrolet for Premium Motorsports at the Daytona 500, which opens the NASCAR Cup Series season Feb. 18. It followed last week’s news that she is teaming up with longtime sponsor GoDaddy for both the Daytona 500 and Indy 500.

About a month after publicly sharing her split with Stenhouse, Patrick confirmed she’s now dating Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.