The former IndyCar star, who is switching full time to NASCAR, will drive the #10 Chevrolet for Stewart Haas Racing in next year's season-opening event, attempting to make the field for what would be her first Cup outing.
Patrick will run at least another nine Cup races while driving full-time for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series. Following Daytona, Patrick will enter events at Darlington, Bristol (autumn race), Atlanta, Chicago, Dover, Texas, and Phoenix, while two other races have yet to be defined, with the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis still a possibility.
"I'm excited," said Patrick. "There's a lot I'm worried for but on the other hand as I've kind of felt it with my Nationwide races so far is that - and in particular with the most difficult tracks - expectation levels are sometimes not quite as high. So you have the ability to make mistakes and that's the plan.
"There's going to be mistakes and there's going to be learning curves to get that out of the way before we try and do this full-time... It's about making the most complete future possible with the limited schedule of experience."
Patrick will have the chance to secure her place in the Daytona 500 field through qualifying or then through the Gatorade Duels, where she could get help in the draft from team-mates Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman, who will be guaranteed the start in the event thanks to their status in the points, as both are Chase contenders this year.
Team owner and future team-mate Stewart said after racing with Patrick at Daytona in the Nationwide Series this year he felt she was ready to make the jump up to a Cup car. He says having gone through the same transition from IndyCar to NASCAR in the past will allow him to better help Patrick master stock car racing as they look to field her full-time in 2013.
"It's been a fun journey for me and I think that's going to make such a fun journey with Danica," said Stewart. "It's knowing that the things she's going to be experiencing going from the IndyCars to the Cup cars are the same thing that I had to go through too. It's a nice feeling for me knowing that when she talks about something I'm going to understand it from first-hand experience.
"I'm just worried about how far into this 10-race deal it's going to be before she absolutely hates me because of where I'm sending her... But this is all in an effort to get ready for 2013. If it was easy it wouldn't be worth doing obviously."
He added: "It's an aggressive schedule for someone who hasn't been in a Cup car yet but at the same time to compete at this level you're going to have to be good at these tracks."
This weekend Patrick will run her 10th Nationwide Series race of the year, her 23rd in the second-tier series over the past two years. She will also compete at Phoenix next week and then in the series finale at Homestead.
