Daniel Ricciardo set to drive Earnhardt NASCAR stock car at US GP after winning bet with Zak Brown

Daniel Ricciardo is preparing to get behind the wheel of a NASCAR stock car at Circuit of The Americas this weekend as McLaren CEO Zak Brown honours a bet he made with the Australian.

Brown offered his new-for-2021 recruit Ricciardo a drive in Dale Earnhardt Sr's 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo on the condition that the ex-Renault driver scored a podium for McLaren this season.

Ricciardo went one better than that and led a McLaren one-two at Monza ahead of team mate Lando Norris. This weekend, he gets his reward and will treat spectators to a demonstration of the blue-and-yellow stock car ahead of the United States Grand Prix.

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"Dale Earnhardt Sr's 1984 Wrangler Chevrolet Monte Carlo. Get us that podium and the drive is all yours," was Brown's challenge after the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

And when Ricciardo did the deed, Brown Tweeted: "A deal is a deal."

As for the McLaren driver, he said after Monza that it will be a special moment when he finally gets behind the wheel: "Yeah, there’s like a couple of things today, like… Dale Earnhardt – big hero of mine – and to have a chance to get behind the wheel of one of his cars is crazy. That will certainly be a 'pinch me' moment."

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But the Honey Badger said that he perhaps deserved a bit more than just a drive in the stock car after delivering McLaren their first F1 win since 2012...

"I’m like, maybe he gives me the car? I think it was always a podium, I get to drive it. We never talked about a win, so I gave him my shoe that he drank out of, so maybe he gives me the car. It’s a good trade," joked Ricciardo.