Formula 1 star Daniel Ricciardo made his first visit to a NASCAR Cup Series race at Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 from Texas Motor Speedway, as the Australian driver for Red Bull Racing was a guest of Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott.
Ricciardo had told NBCSN F1 pit reporter and insider Will Buxton at the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas last month in Austin he planned to make a return visit to Texas to see Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s final start at the track as a full-time Cup driver.
“The Earnhardt family is a huge name in motorsport, not only in America but all over the world. Yeah I wish him well,” Ricciardo told NBCSN. “Hopefully I get to see him perform well in Texas. I’m gonna try to do a helmet swap with him. We’ll see how we go.”
Elliott welcomed Ricciardo around, and he took in the atmosphere pre-race. He met Joey Logano, among others, before having the chance to see Earnhardt and complete his idea of doing the helmet swap.
Both Earnhardt and Ricciardo signed each other’s helmets, and Earnhardt, who will join NBC Sports as an analyst for its NASCAR coverage in 2018, said he looks forward to attending a Formula 1 race next year.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbIuQBMhmLH/?taken-by=dalejr
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbIipGbnfI_/?taken-by=danielricciardo
Some of the other NASCAR posts Ricciardo appeared in on Sunday are below.
With @F1 having a weekend off, @danielricciardo is at @TXMotorSpeedway taking in today's race! #NASCAR pic.twitter.com/zU2sQbVMDE
— NASCAR on NBC (@NASCARonNBC) November 5, 2017
Howdy, @DanielRicciardo! Enjoy the action! #NASCARPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/MapkdxTncJ
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) November 5, 2017
Pre-Race at Texas w/ Daniel Ricciardo pic.twitter.com/6rAzHflllf
— Joey Logano (@joeylogano) November 5, 2017
Check it out! @F1 driver @danielricciardo is rocking a vintage Dale Earnhardt t-shirt today at @TXMotorSpeedway! pic.twitter.com/UyTbMavd8B
— RCR (@RCRracing) November 5, 2017
The crew! Hanging with legends today. #NASCAR #RS pic.twitter.com/i0r7I336Y8
— James Kirkham (@JamesKirkham) November 5, 2017
Ricciardo also posted a couple photos to his Instagram story on Sunday.