Danica Patrick Goes IG Official With New Man

Danica Patrick was at Burning Man with a new man ... and based on the former driver's social media behavior Thursday night -- it's pretty serious!

Take a look at a carousel of pics the 42-year-old just dropped on her Instagram page ... while there were several snaps of her enjoying The Burn alone, there were two showing her getting awfully cozy with a hunky guy.

In the first one, Patrick could be seen smooching the dude in the dust. In the second, you can see her locking lips with her new lover on some Playa swings.

No word yet on who the mystery man is -- or if they're officially official -- but Patrick supporters flooded her IG comment section with well wishes following the soft launch of sorts.

"You look happy," one wrote. "Good for you :-)."

Of course, the last time we saw Patrick dating in public was a few years ago, when she was with businessman Carter Comstock. Before that, she was famously intertwined with star NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers ... and dated NASCAR driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for five years.