Dale Earnhardt Jr. upstaged by team's new celebrity hire?

Danica Patrick wears open-toed black shoes with very high heels, and her toes are painted maroon.

Although I have written about NASCAR since the early 1980s, I believe that Patrick is the first driver I have interviewed who wears maroon toenail polish. But I can't say for certain because drivers' toenails typically are not exposed.

Patrick, 27, flies into Charlotte on Wednesday. She meets selected Time-Warner Cable customers at the North Carolina Music Factory Wednesday night.

On Thursday she sits in a director's chair on a stage at JR Motorsports. She signed a two-year contract to drive part time for the team in the Nationwide Series.

Next to her is Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of the team's owners. This is fitting. Patrick and Earnhardt are the only drivers who are better known for their celebrity than their racing. No matter how often they win, or how little, their popularity grows.

On Thursday, Patrick is even bigger than Earnhardt. The first three questions at the news conference are for her.

When was the last time Earnhardt attended a news conference with another driver and the first question was not for him? When was the last time Earnhardt attended a news conference with another driver and the first three questions were not for him?

Jerry Gappens, executive vice president and general manager of New Hampshire Motor Speedway, brought five lobsters with him to Charlotte and on Thursday presents them to Patrick. This is good public relations; lobsters are big on Gappens' turf, and he hopes and expects her to drive in the June 26 Nationwide race at his track.

He emphasizes, however, that Patrick “is not a public relations stunt. She's a legitimate race driver.”

Gappens says that if she races in New Hampshire he will sell an additional 5,000 to 10,000 tickets.

But what about this, I ask. Although Patrick has competed on the Indy circuit five years, she has won only one race.

“That's one more race than any other woman has won at that level,” Gappens immediately says.

Whether Patrick wins or fails to, fans will initially watch. If she is competitive, they'll continue to. The sport is coming off such a bland 2009 that fans might watch even if she regularly finishes 27th.

Fans were waiting for for her at Charlotte-Douglas International Airport when she landed. Patrick says a woman told her Wednesday that she'd start watching NASCAR because Patrick was part of it.

She and Earnhardt are comfortable with each other. They met in Monaco, where they filmed a Jay-Z video.

This must be a tremendous thing to say, I tell Earnhardt, that you met somebody in Monaco to film a Jay-Z video. It is, he says. And Beyonce was there, too. They all hung out after filming.

"She seems to have a good grip on reality," Earnhardt says of Patrick. "Nothing weird comes out of her mouth."

But Patrick is not shy. She is quick and glib and her confidence is, or appears to be, absolute.

Dressed in black and silver Wednesday night, she walks across the shiny wooden floor at the Music Factory with an entourage of at least six. Despite her high high heels, she is tiny.

When I introduce myself and offer my hand, however, she grips it with the force of a middle school gym teacher. The handshake feels like a statement.

She sits at a table on one level and signs autographs; 10 yards away and one level down are Carolina Panthers center Ryan Kalil and linebacker Dan Connor, who sign at theirs.

At 6:20 p.m., there are 47 people in Patrick's autograph line and four in the Panthers'.

At 6:28, there are 53 in her line and eight in the Panthers'.

At 6:37, there are 33 in her line and zero in the Panthers'.

What's wrong with you?

“It's not fair,” says Kalil, who like Connor wears his Carolina jersey. “We have to wear our uniforms and she doesn't have to wear her racing jacket. If she had to wear her jacket, this would be a lot different. Go and tell the people who set this up.”

If Patrick played football, Kalil would block for her.

A man in a gray suit stands next to Patrick, the camera snaps and Patrick smiles. When the man leaves, she stops. Then a young couple pose with her. Immediately there's a smile.

We know about her racing. We don't know about her. She talked about racing with the television reporters who interviewed her before I did. She doesn't want to talk about her. But you have to try.

One of my stock questions is, “How would you describe yourself to somebody who has never met you.”

It usually works.

“I don't know how to answer that question,” says Patrick. “That's more for you to ask others about. I can't – I really can't talk about myself that way.”

She talks about NASCAR drivers she knows and mentions Casey Mears. She asks me about Mears' sponsorship issues. I tell her I have no idea.

“I get the impression you don't know a lot about racing,” Patrick says.

Ask me about the NFL, I say.

She declines.