Danica Patrick returns to the NASCAR Nationwide Series this weekend for the first time since March and admits she'll be battling some nerves at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Patrick ran the season's first three Nationwide races (Daytona, California and Las Vegas) before focusing on the Izod IndyCar Series. She is scheduled to run in 10 Nationwide races the rest of the season, beginning this weekend. She recently tested at Milwaukee, a flat track similar to New Hampshire, to prepare for this weekend but admits there's still much to learn.

"I'm nervous because it's new and there's so much to learn about the way a race goes,'' Patrick said.

"How the race kind of plays out normally, the yellow flags and pit stops, how the car changes over a fuel run and how the tires change. There's just so much I'm unfamiliar with and that makes me nervous because I care and I want to do well.''

Patrick is set to run a partial schedule in the Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports through next season. There was speculation after the deal was announced, that it would set her to possibly run for Hendrick Motorsports in the Sprint Cup Series in 2012 if all went well. Although Kasey Kahne is moving over to Hendrick Motorsports, Patrick doesn't worry about how that could impact her future.

"Kasey coming over to Hendrick, I think that's great for him," Patrick said.

"He's a fantastic driver and Hendrick is obviously the top team. For my situation, I really don't know. We first have to go through this process and run Nationwide and see how it goes and see what kind of things are in the future for me.''

Suspended

Randy LaJoie, a two-time champion in what is now the Nationwide Series, has been suspended by NASCAR for violating its substance abuse policy. ESPN also announced that it has indefinitely suspended LaJoie, an analyst for the network.

LaJoie issued a statement, saying he submitted to drug testing on June 3 in order to get a license to be a spotter for one of Joe Gibbs Racing's Nationwide teams. LaJoie stated that he failed the drug test for marijuana.

"I take full responsibility for my actions and respect NASCAR's decision,'' LaJoie said.

"I wish to apologize to my wife first, to NASCAR, to my fans and to various media companies I work, including ESPN, Sirius Radio and Performance Racing Network.

"I have this day sought to enroll in a substance-abuse program. My use of marijuana was an isolated incident following the Coca-Cola 600. I plan to follow the recommendations of the substance counselor and suggestions of NASCAR and hope that someday I can prove to NASCAR and all the people with whom I associate that I have taken such steps to see that instances such as this do not reoccur.''

Appeal denied

The National Stock Car Racing Commission denied an appeal by Front Row Motorsports for penalties for illegal valve stem caps.

The team was appealing 12-race suspensions for car chief Richard Bourgeois and tire specialist Michael Harrold.

The team claimed in its appeal "rogue elements of the team'' developed the valve stem caps, which were designed to bleed air and keep the tires at a constant pressure reading. The team claimed that the caps were "mistakenly'' brought to Pocono and "accidentally'' placed on the car before the race.

According to a report, the commission did not find the explanation plausible and kept those penalties in place.

Pit stops

Joey Logano said he has not talked to Kevin Harvick since their run-in at Pocono. Logano, who expressed anger on his radio at Juan Pablo Montoya for a bumping incident in Sunday's race, said he had yet to see a replay of it and had not talked to Montoya about it. ... TNT will air next weekend's Daytona Sprint Cup race in 3-D. It can be seen on a 3-D-capable TV with DIRECTV and also on TNT's Race Buddy on NASCAR.com.