As Danica Patrick answered questions after her third-place finish in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, I had the following thought:

When the IndyCar Series season ends and Patrick’s contract expires, series founder Tony George and his good friends need to present Patrick with a giant check that lets her write in as many zeroes as she wants. Because she cannot — never, ever, ever — be allowed to jump from this series to NASCAR or Formula One.

Ever.

If this was, in fact, Patrick’s last Indy 500 as an open-wheel regular, the sport is back in very deep trouble as a niche sport on a second-tier cable network.

Look. Everybody loves Helio Castroneves. There are some strong young Americans, Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal, although they fell out of Sunday’s race early. There are still compelling personalities like Tony Kanaan and Paul Tracy (we hope he gets more races) and the universally beloved Sarah Fisher. If the IRL lost Patrick, it wouldn’t quite fold up its tent and declare Chapter 13 bankruptcy.

But it would be a decisive and horrible blow to open-wheel racing.

If, in the end, Patrick wants to go to NASCAR because of the higher profile, the challenge of it, the raised platform the sport would give her and her brand, then there’s not much the IRL can do no matter how much money it brings to the table. As much as NASCAR is struggling in this economy — and the IRL seems to be holding steady during tough times — the bottom line is, the stock cars run on Fox while the open-wheelers share time on Versus with my hockey games.

Patrick is a hothouse flower who is drawn to the lights, loves the attention, and NASCAR can give her attention in ways the IRL can only begin to imagine. Her merchandise would fly off the shelves. Her face would be seen everywhere. Without even competing in a race, she would rival Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon in terms of popularity.

In the end, could you blame her? How do you ignore the 10-ton elephant in the middle of the room?

Just don’t let it come down to money, because losing Patrick would cost the IRL even more in the long run. She has become far more than a novelty; she has become a worthy top-tier driver who happens to be female.

In 2005, she led the Indy 500 for 19 laps, finished fourth and gave rise to Danicamania.

On Sunday, she finished a solid, workmanlike third, and it was no big deal.

Which reallyisa big deal.

“That’s good,‘’ she said. "I’m doing my job. . . . I’m glad that people are seeing it more like just a good finish from a good driver.’’

It was interesting to read the recent comments from NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson, whose unsolicited paternal advice to Patrick was to spend some time learning stock cars by driving in the Nationwide or truck series.

Help me here: Did Johnson offer the same kinds of tips to open-wheel drivers Sam Hornish Jr., Dario Franchitti and Juan Pablo Montoya before those open-wheel regulars shifted to NASCAR without any stock-car experience?

Granted, itwouldbe a daunting transition. Indy-cars weigh roughly 1,500 to 1,600 pounds. Sprint Cup cars weight about 3,500 pounds. Indy cars have a ton of downforce. Stock cars do not. The Sprint Cup season is a grind, 36 races long. The IndyCar season is 17 races.

We saw how the open-wheel guys struggled: Franchitti went and came back to the IRL, and neither Hornish nor Montoya has made a slightest bit of noise.

But for all this talk about whether Patrick is strong enough to handle a longer season or a more unwieldy car, nobody mentions that Stewart, as an example, is hardly a beacon of physical fitness. In a NASCAR triathlon, I’d take Patrick to finish in the top third of the pack.

Yes, it would be a major challenge for Patrick — or for any open-wheeler making the transition — but the more people doubt her, the more likely it is that she’ll seize upon the challenge.

Understand, too, that if she makes the move, it will be to one of the four mega-teams: Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Roush Fenway Racing or Richard Childress Racing. She will not go over there without having the best chances to win.

If I was her guide — no charge, by the way — I’d tell her to do what she’s doing: Keep your options open. Listen to NASCAR. Listen to F-1. Enjoy the courting process.

And then come back to the IndyCar Series, where she belongs.

She may be a big fish in a smaller pond now, but if she stays, the series has a chance to grow deeper and wider. And by then, she will not only be remembered as the best female driver in history, but as the driver who brought open-wheel racing back to life.