After winning his podium bet with Zak Brown, Daniel Ricciardo will finally drive one of Dale Earnhardt’s NASCAR cup cars at the United States Grand Prix.
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At the start of the season, Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren, accepted a wager with his new driver Daniel Ricciardo over him, scoring a podium for the Woking-based team.
With former Renault team principal Cyril Abiteboul’s tattoo bet with Daniel kept in mind, Brown decided to play safe. He decided to offer something that would keep him away from needles.
Daniel Ricciardo is a big fan of Dale Earnhardt Sr., so Zak Brown promised his driver an outing in the NASCAR legend’s number 3 cup car if he scored a podium. The Earnhardt NASCAR car is a part of Zak Brown’s personal car collection.
The Australian driver had a tough start to the season but found his groove when he led his team to a 1-2 finish in Monza. It was McLaren’s first win since Brazil in 2012 and their first 1-2 finish since Canada in 2010. Ricciardo scored a podium with McLaren. Now the question was, when was he going to get his prize?
Daniel Ricciardo will get what he was promised in Austin
It was unclear as to when this NASCAR test for the McLaren driver would be carried out. When asked about this after his win in Monza, Ricciardo said, “I think it will happen in the next couple months”.
“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. Maybe to go with the American theme, they might even send it over to Austin to do a few laps in Texas.”
As McLaren confirmed earlier on Twitter, it is indeed happening at the US Grand Prix in the coming weekend. No further plans as to when exactly it was going to happen were revealed.
Daniel Ricciardo will likely get his drive on the NASCAR legend’s car on the buildup to the US GP.
