Earnhardt to drive sports car again

Elwood · March 18, 2004

March 17, 2004

BRASELTON, Ga. (AP) -- NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. will trade his Chevrolet Monte Carlo for a Corvette for one weekend in July.

Earnhardt, winner of two of the first four races this year in the Nextel Cup series, has agreed to compete in the July 18 American Le Mans Series event at Infinion Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

He will co-drive with veteran road racer Boris Said in a Corvette C5-R fielded by Corvette Racing. The car will carry the No. 8, the same number Earnhardt uses in the Cup series.

Earnhardt previously raced with the Corvette team in the 2001 24 Hours of Daytona, along with his father, the late Dale Earnhardt. The duo finished fourth overall in their first-ever sports car competition.

``I'm happy that Chevy has given me the chance to cross over and take part in its sports car program, which has been a huge success,'' Earnhardt said. ``Boris Said has a lot of experience at Infineon Raceway, and I'm getting better there, so it should be a fun weekend.''

He also drove in the rival Grand American Series' Daytona 24 Hours in February. He combined with fellow NASCAR star Tony Stewart and road racing veteran Andy Wallace of England to finish fifth overall in a Chevrolet-powered Crawford Daytona Prototype.

Hecktorx · March 18, 2004

That's cool. Anything to get him better at the roadcoarses will help. I think Jr. is trying to become something his father never really perfected, a good road corse racer.

I'm sure the impending diecast sales aren't going to hurt either.

Kenny

99GoldSilverado · March 18, 2004

Jr definitely looks like he is 'on' this year (even with that bad week). I picked him in a pool and have already made my $ back

antig24 · March 19, 2004

Pretty cool, Borris will be able to show him a thing or two.

Shadowfax · March 19, 2004

That is cool. In the last 2 seasons, he has really come into his own as a twisty's driver. Last year he was one of the top 4 drivers in cup at the Roadies. Also drove pretty good too, in the 2 24 Hours of Daytona races hes driven in.