Sport
After Brown’s bet, Ricciardo will demo an Earnhardt NASCAR Cup car at the US Grand Prix
After winning his Formula 1 bet with CEO Zak Brown, Daniel Ricciardo will get to drive one of Dale Earnhardt’s NASCAR Cup cars in the United States Grand Prix.
Ricciardo accepted a wager with Brown after joining McLaren at the start of the season that he would score his first podium for the team.
Brown wanted to avoid any physical discomfort from needles after Ricciardo’s famous tattoo bet with his former Renault boss Cyril Abiteboul, so he chose a racing incentive instead.
With Ricciardo being a great fan of Dale Earnhardt Sr and racing with the NASCAR legend’s number 3, Brown thought a prize that reflected those themes would be perfect.
Brown promised Ricciardo an actual outing in the car if he finished in the top three after presenting him a model of Earnhardt’s 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo as a signing prize.
“I’m thinking your first podium you give the real thing a go,” explained Brown at the time.
Brown’s private car collection includes a variety of F1 challengers and sportscars, as well as the Earnhardt NASCAR.
Despite a poor first half of the season, Ricciardo took his first McLaren podium at the Italian Grand Prix, leading the team to a 1-2 finish.
It was unclear when the best opportunity for the NASCAR test would offer itself, but Ricciardo stated on an Australian podcast last weekend that the test could take place in Austin.
“I think it will happen in the next couple months,” he said. “I don’t know if it might even happen in the States. We’ll see. I know the car is based in Europe at the moment, but maybe to go with the American theme, how knows, they might even send it over to Austin to do a few laps in Texas.”
McLaren has now confirmed that the NASCAR race will be held over the Austin F1 weekend.
It confirmed the plans in a tweet on Friday, but provided no other details.
Ricciardo is more than likely to receive a run in the spur to the Austin weekend, just like Haas colleagues Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean did when they tried out NASCAR in 2019.
The uniforms of Formula One racing drivers are currently available at the following websites for a reasonable price:
