“As a child, I grew up a fan of NASCAR. The Daytona 500 was my most anticipated race to observe. The shut racing, the bump drafting, and this and that, but in addition simply the timing,” stated again in February. Certain, he left the world of motorsports again in 2024 as soon as the Components 1 season ended, however has racing left him? Nicely, if his latest phrases are something to go by, then perhaps not.
“I’ve seen movies of you while you get the lead, get to the entrance within the 500, like the gang goes nuts. I’m clearly, hopefully, I’ll get to expertise that,” Ricciardo stated, talking of his Daytona 500 expertise as a spectator.
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For the longest time, Ricciardo has been an fanatic of inventory automobile racing and American tradition general. Even throughout the Components 1 United States Grand Prix at COTA, he would pull up in a cowboy hat and a horseshoe beard, mixing in with the Texas tradition. And now that he has stepped away from F1, he has the chance to step into different sequence. Whereas he hasn’t given a strong trace of something particularly, his ardour for the Daytona 500 appears unreal.
“I watched that race my complete life, and I knew the banking could be cool […] I’ve been round racing my complete life, however there’ll nonetheless be issues which are simply going to blow me away. Possibly folks have a notion that, properly, he’s raced F1, so what does he care about Indy, or why is that going to be cool to him? It’s like, there are such a lot of sorts of ranges and variants of cool and wow,” he added.
Inventory automobile racing is understandably completely different from open-wheel racing. However it’s not unusual for drivers from each disciplines to strive the opposite out, and that’s precisely the case with Daniel Ricciardo.
In actual fact, he was even current on the monitor in 2021, forward of the F1 US GP. He had the prospect to drive 1984 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, shining vibrant below the Texas solar with iconic blue and yellow Wrangler colours. It was this season.
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“I’m completely satisfied for Daniel. I’m additionally appreciative of how he celebrates my father. That makes lots of dad’s relations, and followers smile,” Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrote on the time.
However wait, the 36-year-old’s affinity for the Daytona 500 runs deeper.
Earlier than this yr’s occasion in February, Ricciardo’s new enterprise, Enchante, ready a NASCAR-themed drop forward of the 68th working of the race. The model deliberate a particular Daytona 500 launch referred to as Daytona Thunder, that includes race-themed shirts and caps. On Enchante’s Instagram, the previous Crimson Bull Racing driver additionally wrote about how fascinating he finds the occasion.
“The technique and the way early within the race to indicate your playing cards, so to talk, and the cat and mouse, and when to go and when to be affected person. The entire stream of the race that actually fascinated me. What a technique to begin a yr, with a race like Daytona,” he wrote.
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It was a particular second for Ricciardo, however now that he’s achieved that, understandably, he needs extra, which is to run the Daytona 500. However frankly, it wouldn’t be too odd. There have been Components 1 drivers all through the years who’ve had the prospect to run in NASCAR.
F1 drivers who gave NASCAR a shot
Components 1 is just not at all times the final word resting place for a lot of careers. There have been a number of the most notable drivers who stepped exterior of open-wheel racing and gave NASCAR an enormous probability.
Components 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix 2026 Juan Pablo Montoya COL, throughout Components 1 Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix 2026. on April 30., 2026 in Miami, United States Of America Zsombor Toth Miami Miami Worldwide Autodrome Florida United States Of America
Of those, Juan Pablo Montoya is essentially the most profitable instance. He ran full-time seasons between 2007 and 2013, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing (later Earnhardt Ganassi Racing). He recurrently made prime 10 finishes and even gained a number of races. This was an iconic instance of an F1 driver shifting to inventory automobiles and nonetheless managing to win.
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However the examples don’t cease there.
There may be additionally the case of Kimi Raikkonen. Proper after he retired from F1 on the finish of the 2021 season, he took his abilities with to run at Watkins Glen in 2022. A yr later, he as soon as once more ran at COTA.
Whereas he didn’t run any of the ovals, Ricciardo appears to be focusing on the identical. His ardour for the Daytona 500 is sort of comprehensible. It is without doubt one of the greatest motorsports occasions all year long and marks the NASCAR season’s begin. To be truthful, contemplating the variety of drivers who run the Nice American Race, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Ricciardo give it a strive, too.
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