LEEDS — Don’t bring up the word “balance” to Danica Patrick.

“There’s no balance,” she said. “I work all the time.”

Indeed, Patrick’s schedule seems busier with each passing day, particularly now that she’s racing in both stock cars and Indy cars.

“A few years ago, I didn’t have a schedule like this at all,” she said. “I didn’t have nearly this many endorsements, outside of the car, or as many opportunities, really. And I do now.

“So I keep very busy, not only with the driving these days — because I’m going from 17 to 31 races this year, which is still short of a NASCAR schedule — but also with the other opportunities I have outside of the car, things that I work on: photoshoots and appearances and things like that. I definitely stay busy; I’ve been home for like a couple days in the last month. But it’s fun.”

Wednesday brought Patrick — who’s become the standard-bearer for open-wheel racing even as she dabbles in the NASCAR Nationwide Series — to Barber Motorsports Park for testing. Patrick and 22 others spent the day testing at the road course for the upcoming Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, scheduled to take place in April.

“It’s nice to be able to test at a track that we’re gonna race at,” she said. “That doesn’t happen all the time. A lot of times we go to Homestead and drive the road course on the oval there, and that’s kind of our ‘spring training’ for the season. It’s nice to be at a track that we will come back to, that actually means something.

“It’s a little cold, so what’s the deal with that? I thought Alabama was supposed to be warm.”

Gene Hallman, President of the Bruno Event Team and chief promoter of the Grand Prix at Barber, said Patrick’s involvement in the April race was crucial.

“When we signed our agreement to host a three-year event at Barber Motorsports Park, Danica did not have her contract at that point signed to extend for the next 3 years,” Hallman said. “And Danica, I don’t know if it’s proper to pray for these sort of things, but I prayed. … I don’t know if it’s debatable whether you can pray for you to sign your contract, but our prayers came true. Boy did they come true – and thank you, very much, for being with us at least 3 more years on this wonderful circuit.”

In less than 10 minutes on the podium, Patrick discussed everything from her busy schedule to the differences in open-wheel and stock-car racing. As much as anything else, she says she’s excited to be “somewhere we’re wanted.”

“We want to go places that we’re wanted, and we really felt wanted here,” she said. “So I appreciate everything you guys do. This morning I saw an ad already for the April race. I was happy to see that; I’m happy to see you guys trying to promote the event and sell tickets.

“I think that, amongst all of us in the team, we think this is going to be a big race. So it would be really nice if I could stand on that podium at the April event.”