NASCAR touch for McLaughlin Volvo at QR

Volvo star Scott McLaughlin will have NASCAR-sized numbers on the doors of his S60 for the Coates Hire Ipswich 400 at Queensland Raceway this weekend.

At the direction of his team boss Garry Rogers, the large #33s have been added to the young driver’s car as a light-hearted dig at his recent sojourn in America.

McLaughlin took time off his schedule following the Castrol Townsville 500 to attend the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire, where he met up with Richard Petty Motorsports driver Marcos Ambrose.

Not hiding his aspirations to one day have a crack at the American stock car series, McLaughlin had a wry smile when talking about Rogers’ latest prank to emblazon his car with giant numbers.

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“It’s cool. Garry is almost taking the piss. He’s a bit of a larrikin as everyone knows,” McLaughlin told Speedcafe.com

“I’d been over watching NASCAR in America and obviously he’s watched a bit of Days Of Thunder and Cole Trickle and he’s put the big 33 on the door.”

McLaughlin, who claimed his second main game win at Queensland Raceway last year for the GRM operation, was impressed his first NASCAR experience as a spectator.

“I had a pretty cruisy chat with Marcos. He knew exactly what I’d been doing with the Volvo and everything,” he said.

“He was probably asking more about the Volvo than I was asking about NASCAR but I was able to hang out with them all weekend which was pretty cool.

“I was standing on the infield in practice and qualifying and then I went on the outfield and watched a restart and you don’t realise how fast they are until you get that close.

“It’s pretty impressive. They are doing 180mph (290km/h) on a short oval.”