Danica Patrick has confirmed she h♈as a deal in place for this year's Indianapolis 500 that will mark her final competitive outing as a racing driver before hanging up her helmet.

After losing her NASCAR seat with Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of last season, Patrick, 35, announced in November she would be retiring from racing in 2018 following one-off appear👍ances in the Daytona 500 and Indy 500.

꧒Patrick will race for Premium Motorsports in the NASCAR event at Daytona In♕ternational Speedway later this month, and that aཧ deal is also now in place for her return🐼 to the Indy 500, coming seven years after her last single-seater start.

"I just needed to make sure [the deal] was done. The rest [announcement] I don’t really care about," Patrick said, confirming that no official unveil would come in the ne🔯ar future, but promiseꦆd it would be "a bigger deal" than her NASCAR confirmation.

"Obviously, the start of this [NASCAR] season didn’t happen any different than last season did, where I sh🎉owed up and I hadn’t been in the car since Homestead. It’s no different than that.

“But Indy is obviously totally🃏 different. We’ll do something a little more substantial for the announc🅰ement and the unveil.”

Patrick's announcement isꦡ expected to come after her Daytona 500 appearance, with Ed Carpenter Racing, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports holding the final known seats for the Indy 500.