After her first full season at NASCAR's top level, Danica Patrick is looking to occupy her offseason schedule with events that might make up for her rocky past few months.
According to the Associated Press, the Sprint Cup newcomer will host the fourth annual American Country Awards on Dec. 10 on Fox, joining singer Trace Adkins.
Patrick will take the place of funny lady Kristin Chenoweth, who was the emcee for last year's awards ceremony.
Patrick and Adkins will host the show from the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas.
Patrick told AP she's been a fan of country since she started racing in NASCAR. She's even made cameo appearances in country artists Miranda Lambert and Colt Ford's music videos.
She also stated in a release that she was anxiously awaiting the event, while expressing her excitement over working with Adkins, who has hosted the awards ceremony since it first aired in 2009.
"I'm so excited to host the American Country Awards with Trace Adkins," she wrote. "I have no doubt he'll be able to keep up with me...This is going to be a really cool experience, and I'm excited to be a part of it."
This will be the first time that Patrick gets behind the microphone for an entire television show -- but she's had a fair amount of experience on camera. She's been featured in a few commercials, including a Go Daddy advertisement that aired during the Super Bowl.
Let's hope the show goes more smoothly than the media flurry that she encountered earlier this year.
Fellow NASCAR driver Kyle Petty slammed Patrick back in June, saying that she was "not a race car driver."
"Danica has been the perfect example of somebody who can qualify better than what she runs," Petty said. "She can go fast, but she can't race. I think she's come a long way, but she's still not a race car driver. And I don't think she's ever going to be a race car driver."
Patrick kept her cool, and responded by saying that she didn't care.
"At the end of the day, you just get over that kind of stuff," she said, referring to Petty's comments.
