Earnhardt Jr To Drive Corvette C5-R American Le Mans Series

[911SC Pilot]

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



Earnhardt Jr., 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 Infineon 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 Jr. uses in the Cup series.



Earnhardt Jr. 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 Jr. 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 Rolex 24-Hours sports car endurance race at Daytona in February, combining 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.

[KNS]

I've never been a NASCAR fan but it's great to see drivers from other series competing in different series other than their own. Dale Jr. should hopefully bring more viewers (perhaps first timers)
into watching road racing.

[Paul Thomas]

Dale and Jr. co-drove a C5-R in the Rolex 24 just before Sr. hit the wall and died. That was his last podium finish and it wasn't Nascar.

Paul