Daniel Ricciardo will be back at the wheel this weekend, but it’s not just an F1 car the Australian wants to impress with.
Ricciardo is also looking forward to driving a NASCAR stock car at the Circuit of The Americas this weekend, having previously bet with McLaren CEO Zak Brown.
Brown promised Ricciardo, 32, a ride in Dale Earnhardt Sr’s 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo – but on the condition that the former Red Bull and Renault driver finished on the podium for his new team that season.
And he was duly signed at the Italian Grand Prix in September, taking home a McLaren one-two and taking his eighth F1 win with team-mate Lando Norris in runner-up. It was McLaren’s first race win since 2012.
Ricciardo is celebrating after recently winning the Italian Grand Prix
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Image:
Photo only / PA images)
After the season opening Grand Prix of Bahrain, Brown put the gauntlet on the ‘honey badger’ by promising: “Dale Earnhardt Sr. 1984 Wrangler Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Get us the podium and the drive is all yours. “
The Perth man never forgot and told reporters after his glorious day in Monza, “Dale Earnhardt – my great hero – and having the chance to get behind the wheel of one of your cars is crazy. That will surely be a ‘pinch’ moment. “
McLaren boss Zak Brown has kept his side of the bargain
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Image:
GETTY)
In fact, Brown responded by tweeting, “A deal is a deal,” and on Friday the official McLaren Twitter account posted, “You saw that right. Dale Earnhardt Sr. 1984 Wrangler Chevrolet Monte Carlo will be at @COTA by next week @DanielRicciardo drove. ”
Ricciardo, however, jovially pointed out a bigger reward, telling the F1 official website, “I think maybe he’ll give me the car? I think it was always a podium, I’m allowed to drive it.
“We never talked about a win, so I gave him my shoe that he was drinking from, so maybe he’ll give me the car. It’s a good deal. “
Earnhardt enjoyed a legendary Nascar career that spanned four decades, claiming 76 Winston Cup race wins and seven championship wins. He was still racing in 2001 when he was involved in a fatal accident at the Daytona 500 at the age of 49 and later died of a basilar skull fracture.
And Ricciardo, currently eighth in the F1 drivers’ standings, will not have the opportunity to pay homage to his great career this weekend.
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