Ricky Stenhouse Jr. says girlfriend Danica Patrick would like to keep competing

Mike Hembree | Special to USA TODAY Sports

Show Caption Hide Caption Danica Patrick out at Stewart-Haas Racing USA TODAY Sports' Mike Hembree discusses what's next for Danica Patrick after she announced she won't be back with Stewart-Haas Racing in 2018.

CHARLOTTE -- Danica Patrick wants to continue her career as a race car driver but will be busy with many other pursuits if she doesn’t, said Ricky Stenhouse Jr., her longtime boyfriend.

Stenhouse said Wednesday that Patrick -- who revealed Tuesday that she won’t return to Stewart-Haas Racing next season -- has raced for 25 years and remains attracted to competition.

“I know she enjoys racing,” Stenhouse said. “She loves the competitiveness of it and has been doing it for a long time. I think if it was up to her, she would try to get in a competitive car and keep competing.”

Patrick, 35, started an athletic clothing line early this year and has written a health and fitness book that is scheduled to be published next year. She also is involved with a winery in California’s Napa Valley.

“She is very passionate about all her other businesses she has going,” Stenhouse said. “It definitely makes her really happy doing that. If she didn’t have all those other things going on that she enjoys, I would be really concerned, because nobody wants to just quit racing. But I do think she’s in a great place outside of the race car. Let’s say she’s a lot busier than all the other drivers in our sport traveling around and doing things.”

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Kyle Larson, who will join Stenhouse in the Cup playoffs starting this weekend, said that Patrick’s competitive nature stands alone. Larson is a close friend of Stenhouse and Patrick, a friendship that grew stronger after their mutual friend, driver Bryan Clauson, died in a racing accident.

“Her competitiveness is something that’s unmatched,” Larson said. “It’s sometimes funny to see, because she is so intense all the time. I hope she can find something and do even more for our sport.

“She’s a great race car driver, especially the greatest female race car driver of all time.”

Patrick has said that she is interested only in full-time racing and not making spot appearances, but the matter of the Indianapolis 500 often comes up in discussions about her career. She finished third in the 500 in 2009 before jumping to NASCAR, scoring the highest finish ever by a woman in the world’s biggest race.

“I know when she first came to NASCAR she wanted to do the double (driving in the Indy 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 in the same day),” Stenhouse said. “I don’t know that she’d ever have any desire to go back and run Indy. I know it’s one race she’s always been very passionate about and always thinks every time she shows up, she has a good opportunity to win. But I don’t know if she wants to or not.”

Stenhouse said Patrick’s racing legacy is firmly established.

“I think the things she’s been able to accomplish make her the best female driver of all time,” he said. “But I’ve seen her run up through the field at Atlanta, one of our tougher race tracks. I feel like she can drive anything.”

PHOTOS: Danica Patrick and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.