Daniel Ricciardo says “Driving Dale Earnhardt car will be ‘pinch me’ moment”

After winning the Italian Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday, Daniel Ricciardo will get to drive the 1984 NASCAR Chevrolet Monte Carlo of his late idol Dale Earnhardt Sr, but the smiling Australian can sense a better deal.

McLaren Racing head Zak Brown, who owns the original number three Wrangler-liveried coupe, promised Ricciardo a test in the car if he finished on the podium this season back in March.

“I’m like, maybe he gives me the car?,” the Australian, who also races with the number three on his McLaren, said hopefully after a one-two finish with team mate Lando Norris at Monza on Sunday.

“It was always ‘a podium, I get to drive it’. We never talked about a win.

“I gave him my shoe that he drank out of, so maybe he gives me the car. It’s a good trade.”

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Ricciardo’s victory was McLaren’s first since Jenson Button’s in Brazil in November 2012, a 3,213-day wait.

It was also their first one-two combination since 2010.

In terms of wins and total championships, Sunday was both a beginning and a finish for the second most successful team in Formula One history, second only to Ferrari, who have been around since the beginning in 1950.

The conclusion of a long period of being reminded of their absence from the top step of the podium, a drought matched by former champions Williams, but also the beginning of a return to winning ways.

Ricciardo, who had not won since joining Red Bull in 2018 and has battled to get to grips with the car since leaving Renault at the conclusion of last year, summed it up perfectly.

“There’s like a couple of things today, like two heroes,” he said.

“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.

“The other one … I’m sorry if I sound a bit self-absorbed now, but when I think of McLaren I think of (the late triple champion Ayrton) Senna.

“That’s the early memories and I’ve seen the trophies in the cabinet at the MTC (factory) and to have a winning trophy now with my name in pretty much the same cabinet is crazy.”

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Brown enjoyed the occasion as he stood on the podium with his drivers to celebrate and swig champagne with surprising gusto from Ricciardo’s sweaty boot.

The American was also aware that McLaren had a long road ahead of them to get back to where they wanted to be.