Danica Patrick could be part of Indy 500 plans for Carpenter or Reinbold

Danica Patrick has cleared the first major hurdle in her attempt to close her career with the "Danica Double." By reuniting with GoDaddy, she has found a sponsor willing to make her rides off into the sunset at Daytona and Indianapolis possible. Now she just has to find a team — or teams — that are willing to do the same thing.

Patrick is expected to announce her rides for the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500 "very soon," a person with knowledge of the talks with teams told USA TODAY Sports. The source requested anonymity because nothing has been finalized.

In her Indianapolis 500 debut, Patrick not only became the first woman to lead laps, she also wowed the racing world with a rookie-of-the-year worthy fourth-place finish. It remains the best finish by a woman. More than a decade later, Patrick is hoping to leave her mark once again at the place that helped launch her into superstardom.

If she’s going to accomplish that mission, this next part of the process — finding the right team — will be critical.

Back in November, when Patrick announced her intentions, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing co-owner Bobby Rahal made two things clear: First, he would not be the team owner giving Patrick a ride at the 500; and second, she had better find the right partners to make this work.

“It’s going to be a different world” for her, said Rahal, who employed Patrick during the 2005-06 IndyCar seasons. “I think these cars are going to be a very different animal from what we’ve seen previously. If she does do Indy, then the team will be absolutely critical in terms of how competitive she can be.”

Rahal compared Patrick’s return to the surprise entry in last year's 500 of Formula One superstar Fernando Alonso. Alonso flourished despite limited track time, starting on the second row and leading multiple laps before his engine gave out late in the race. But Alonso had one thing going for him that not many people wanted to talk about, Rahal said.

“Alonso looked like a genius, and obviously he’s a damn good driver. Let’s not kid ourselves,” Rahal said. “But he was also on one of the best teams (Andretti Autosport) in Indianapolis ever. Their setup was perfect. When Danica came to Indy in 2005, she had (reigning champion) Buddy Rice and Vitor Meira. We had great race cars, and this year, I think there’s a lot of questions marks with the new cars.

“Indy won’t be as equal as it has been for the past several. The rules are very different, and these cars are going to be more difficult to drive.”

With only the veteran refresher program and just five days of practice before qualifying for the 102nd Indy 500, Patrick will have to get up to speed fast. And only certain teams are capable of helping her do that, Rahal said.

“I can’t imagine she would do the race without being on one of the best teams, either Ganassi, Andretti — or, I can’t see her at Penske,” Rahal said in November. “But I think it’s going to be a real challenge.”

Especially now, considering it does not appear that any of the three teams Rahal mentioned will be providing a seat for Patrick. Penske said no from the start, and Andretti already has his hands full with a six-car garage in May. Meanwhile, about a week ago, Ganassi president Steve Lauletta told Sirius XM NASCAR Radio that while CGR was talking with Patrick at one point, "we're not talking any longer. I think it would have made sense and we did have conversations if she wanted to run in both races, the Daytona 500 and Indianapolis 500. Ultimately we couldn't come to a solution that worked for both of us."

Rahal doesn’t seem to have changed his tune in the past couple of months, and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports co-owner Sam Schmidt told Autosport that while he still plans to run a third car at Indy, it won’t be Patrick.

However, a pair of frontrunners seemed to have emerged in the Patrick sweepstakes in the past couple of days, namely Ed Carpenter Racing and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.

In a conversation with IndyStar recently, team co-owner Dennis Reinbold said that he hoped to run two cars at Indy this year and that the team has had conversations about Patrick occupying one of those seats. However, when asked Thursday if those conversations had progressed in light of Patrick’s deal with GoDaddy, Reinbold told IndyStar there was no news to report.

Meanwhile, Carpenter told IndyStar on Thursday that he has had conversations with Patrick about driving his third Indy 500 entry, but “it has to be a deal that is beneficial to both parties.”

Would either of those teams be good fits for Patrick? Possibly.

Carpenter always seems to bring rocket ships to the Speedway, as his car has started in the front row three of the past five years. Additionally, by the time the 500 rolls around, Carpenter's cars will have had five races in the bank to extract information from the new aero kit.

And while Reinbold cars have struggled recently — Sage Karam finished 32nd and 28th the past two years — the team has a record of success at Indianapolis with Oriol Servia finishing fourth in 2012 and Justin Wilson coming in seventh in 2010.

Ultimately, Patrick will need to decide which team represents the best fit for her and gives her the best chance to leave Indianapolis — the final race of her career — with a result she can be proud of.

Follow IndyStar Motor Sports Insider Jim Ayello on Twitter and Instagram: @jimayello.