Ingall puts Holden return into gear

Dale Earnhardt Jr is the most popular driver in the US and reportedly earns more than $50 million per year.

He is in Australia on holidays and arranged for the test drive at the Ipswich track in a Paul Morris Motorsport Holden Commodore two weeks ago when he was at Phillip Island for the V8 Supercar season finale.

The 33-year-old has been voted the most popular driver in NASCAR for the past five years.

While Earnhardt Jr was having fun, team owner Paul Morris and his new driver Russell Ingall were getting down to business for next season.

Ingall had his first run in his new Commodore since returning to Holden from Ford and Morris has secured a three-year sponsorship from retail chain Supercheap Auto.

The deal replaces Sirromet wines as the team's primary sponsor. Sirromet is owned by Morris's father Terry.

"For the past six to seven years we have been building our team to the point where we could sign a driver of Russell's calibre, and we've now reached that point," Morris said yesterday.

New Zealand's Fabian Coulthard has been signed by Paul Cruickshank Racing for next year.

He replaces the retired John Bowe in the team's Ford Falcon.