Patrick has signed up to compete in the Prelude to the Dream charity race put on by her NASCAR Sprint Cup Series owner (and teammate) Tony Stewart on Wednesday, June 8th at Eldora Speedway.
Stewart owns the dirt track and the Prelude regularly features NASCAR and other major series stars with all of the proceeds going to charity. After racing in a team format for children's hospitals, this year's Prelude is the Feed the Children Prelude to the Dream, with all proceeds benefiting FeedTheChildren.org.
According to Patrick, this will be the first time she's raced on dirt since she was 10 years old.
"I raced on dirt once before in a go-kart when I was young, but that's about it. It's going to be a challenge for sure, but I know Tony has offered to help in any way possible. I'm excited about it, but I'm also nervous," Patrick said in a release. "It's a totally different style of racing, so I'm not sure what to expect. But it's for a great cause with Feed the Children benefiting from the money raised this year, so I'm ready to give it a shot."
Clint Bowyer, who won last year's race, will be joining Patrick and Stewart and 15 other announced drivers, including Justin Allgaier, Aric Almirola, Dave Blaney, Kurt Busch, Ron Capps, Ty Dillon, Bill Elliott, Ray Evernham, David Gilliland, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Kanaan, Bobby Labonte, Ryan Newman, Cruz Pedregon and Kenny Wallace. Six more drivers will be announced next week.
The Prelude to the Dream will once again be televised via HBO Pay-Per-View.
