Verizon IndyCar Series driver Graham Rahal believes the timing and circumstances are just too perfect not to do the much-ballyhooed car swap with his National Guard NASCAR counterpart, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Rahal attended the Auto Club 400 in Fontana on Sunday afternoon with girlfriend Courtney Force and her father, 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion, John and reached out to Earnhardt after the race, via Twitter, about the possibility of swapping rides somewhere down the line. For his part, Earnhardt seemed agreeable. Rahal says the Twitter exchange was calculated but ‘100 percent authentic’ and something that the second-generation IndyCar ace has wanted to do for quite some time. ‘I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t want it to happen,’ Rahal told Popular Speed. ‘Dale and I share a sponsor now (National Guard) and my dad (three-time champion, Bobby) and Rick (Hendrick) have always had a great relationship.’ Rahal believes the shared National Guard sponsorship makes for a great marketing opportunity for both himself and Earnhardt, allowing for Rahal to knock a machine off his personal bucket list – the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car. Rahal, who is pushing for the car swap to take place on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is just looking forward to potentially hanging out with Earnhardt, believing that their similarities could establish a fast friendship.(Popular Speed)(3-25-2013)
UPDATE: Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Tuesday he wants to swap race cars with Graham Rahal, but believes it won’t be possible because they drive for rival manufacturers. Both drivers are sponsored by Army National Guard this season. Rahal reached out to Earnhardt on Twitter after Sunday’s NASCAR race at Fontana, proposing they swap cars in an exhibition. Only Earnhardt drives a Chevy in NASCAR, and Rahal’s car in IndyCar is a Honda. Because Chevy and Honda are direct competitors in IndyCar, and Earnhardt is so closely associated with Chevy, he said he doesn’t think the swap is doable. ‘Well, he drives a Honda, which is more than just a speed bump,’ Earnhardt said during an appearance at Charlotte Motor Speedway. ‘If I wanted to drive an Indy car, I’m sure I could get with Penske or somebody who owned a Chevy and take a couple laps somewhere. But it would have been fun to do that with Graham because of the relationship with our sponsor and the history of our families. I look forward to meeting him one day, but I think the fact he has a relationship with a different manufacturer is going to make it challenging – if not impossible – for me to drive that particular car.’(Associated Press)(3-26-2014)
UPDATE 2: Chevy has not received an official request from Dale Earnhardt Jr. to swap race cars with Honda driver Graham Rahal. Jim Campbell, the U.S. Vice President Performance Vehicles and Motorsports for Chevy, said Saturday the manufacturer would consider any proposal to drive an Indy car from Earnhardt but until then, any talk about a manufacture conflict is premature. ‘If we get a proposal, we’ll take a look at it and we’ll look at it with an open set of eyes. The rest is hypothetical,’ Campbell told The Associated Press. ‘Broadly speaking about any Chevy driver that is currently on our roster, if they decided to go race in another category or series, of course we’d love to see them in Chevys. There’s no doubt about that. In some cases it works out like that, and in some cases it doesn’t.’ Kurt Busch, who currently drives a Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing in NASCAR, will drive a Honda for Andretti Autosport in the Indianapolis 500. He was encouraged by Chevy before completing the deal with Andretti to work with a Chevrolet team for Indy, but the manufacturer ultimately agreed he could drive for Andretti.(Associated Press)(3-30-2014)
