Danica eligible for Cup ROTY in 2013?

From Jayski:

2013 silly season notes for #10-Danica Patrick / Stewart Haas Racing : Patrick moves up from the Nationwide Series to run the full 2013 Sprint Cup Season. No word if she will be eligible to be a rookie of the year candidate as she didn't run for Cup points and the rules are unclear for the award since drivers had to declare which series they would run for points in 2011. Patrick ran 10 Sprint Cup races in 2012, which normally would make a driver ineligible for the ROTY award. Crew Chief Tony Gibson moved over to the #10 SHR Chevy from the #39 SHR camp to be Patrick's crew chief late in the 2012 season. Been told that Patrick is committed to the #10 and there are NO plans to switch from #10 to the #7. GoDaddy.com returns to sponsor the car for the full slate of races in 2013. See more about other teams on my 2013 Team / Driver Silly Season Chart .(1-2-2013)

There can be no doubt NASCAR will qualify her for ROTY this year, right? As a reminder, look at the names of the ROTY from the last 3 years:

• 2012 - Steven Leicht
• 2011 - Andy Lally
• 2010 - Kevin Conway

Oh yeah, she'll be eligible.

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.
updated by @tmc-chase: 12/05/16 04:04:08PM

Zackly. For years, I enjoyed watching Cup ROTY candidates - until about 10-12 years ago when most were first in a class of one. First year drivers REALLY became irrelevant 3 years ago when they became the start-and-park crowd because of the huge mounds of money needed to fund a team and driver.

With Danica, NASCAR will once again have a 'name' they can promote as a rookie - even though technically she hit that long-standing traditional 10-race threshold a year ago.

At the end of the day, I guess its not THAT big a deal to me - other than the constant looseness with which NASCAR plays with its own rules. Plus, I'm thinking with one to two more years, she'll be out of Cup anyway.

And it will be interesting to see if they play the no-points-earned card. The DRIVER may not have earned her points on the Cup side last year. But the OWNER of record certainly did. Tommy Baldwin Racing banked those points each week as Reutimann tried to keep the team in the top 35 and she what she could to take them out of it. haha

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Schaefer: It's not just for racing anymore.

it all stinks the way they bought her way in to daytona 500 last year - driver points or owner points and buying points which is really what it is - is a sham - she was no doubt a dissapointment to nascar and all involved - even when her nationwide car was the class of the field she wrecked it - she will need all the help she can get from nascar - as far as roty yeah nascar will throw her that bone - she is no where near the driver reutimann is- someone is deep in the pocket with her - roty isnt what it used to be - ol sue patrick and the go go go daddy marketing machine .

Oh yeah, she'll be a ROTY candidate. Just too perfect of an opportunity to miss. She has to be the odds-on favorite.