Danica Patrick is looking for some help in NASCAR

As Danica Patrick resumes NASCAR racing this weekend in Southern California, the popular IndyCar driver acknowledged that she is struggling with stock cars and now needs a driving coach.

“I really do need help,” Patrick said in an interview.

Her coach could be Mark Martin, the veteran driver in NASCAR’s top-tier Sprint Cup Series, when his schedule permits and other experienced drivers as well, according to both Patrick and Kelley Earnhardt, general manager of JR Motorsports, which provides the cars Patrick drives in NASCAR’s second-level Nationwide Series.

Patrick said her team had talked to Martin, 51, about lending a hand.

“If he was willing to help me on any level, a little, a lot, I would be grateful for any of it,” she said.

Earnhardt, sister of NASCAR star and JR Motorsports co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr., confirmed Wednesday night that Martin was “trying to make himself available” to Patrick and she applauded Martin’s willingness to assume “a very high-profile position in doing so, because he’s going to be put in the forefront of the Danica Patrick show.”

That show resumes Saturday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, where Patrick will drive in her eighth Nationwide race this year, the CampingWorld.com 300. She also plans to drive in the other five remaining Nationwide races now that the IndyCar season is over.

So far, Patrick’s part-time stint in NASCAR — in and around her IndyCar schedule — has been dismal. Her average Nationwide finish has been 31st — which is where she finished at Fontana in her second race in February — and at her most recent race in Dover, Del., she was 35th.

“We talked about a month or two ago about having a driving coach and nothing ended up happening,” Patrick said. “After Dover we all just kind of went, you know what? We need to get this program together.”

Patrick, 28, soared in popularity by nearly winning the Indianapolis 500 in her rookie year in 2005 and then by deftly marketing herself. She’s been on countless magazine covers, appeared in Sports Illustrated swimsuit editions and appeared in edgy television commercials, all of which has attracted sponsors.

But Patrick’s pursuit of her “brand” always has been tinged with debate about the depth of her driving skills, given that she’s won only one race in 98 IndyCar starts. She did finish second in the IndyCar season finale last weekend in Florida, leaving her 10th in the driver standings for the year.

While personal coaching is a part of other sports, say a baseball hitting coach or a golf swing coach, it’s uncommon for a driver in NASCAR’s upper levels. That includes its premier Sprint Cup Series — which races at Fontana on Sunday in the Pepsi Max 400 — and the Nationwide Series, whose races usually include several Cup drivers such as Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick along with lesser-known drivers hoping to reach the Cup series.

But Kelley Earnhardt noted that most NASCAR drivers “all had stock-car experience of some sort” in various minor league events. “They have that feel of how heavy the car is and they know their limits, they’ve spun out, they’ve hit the wall. [Patrick] hasn’t been able to test those boundaries.”

Even so, “she’s done a great job,” Earnhardt said. “She’s finished races, she hasn’t wrecked cars. She’s done what’s been asked of her.”

But Patrick said her problems on the NASCAR circuit affect her confidence.

“I don’t know where the limit is on those cars very well,” she said. “I felt like I was almost more brave in the beginning than I am now. And I don’t want to crash. I want to get the experience; I want to get the miles.”

The main problem is that she’s struggling with how the handling of stock cars can dramatically change during a race, she said.

“In an Indy car, the car stays pretty similar the whole run,” Patrick said. “In a stock car it is like up the mountain, down the mountain, it is a huge change from the beginning to the end of a run.”

An assist from Martin “would be really good,” she said. And Martin has helped other newcomers, including off-road motorcycle champion Ricky Carmichael, who also is driving in NASCAR’s minor league circuits.

james.peltz@latimes.com