Three F1 legend, Kimi Raikkonen, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Jacques Villeneuve have all shared their love for racing in NASCAR. The American racing series is seen by some as a rival to Formula 1 despite being very different, and only a small number of drivers have competed in both disciplines.
However, three of those who have raced in both series have expressed their enjoyment for driving the American V8 muscle cars, which largely race on oval circuits with the occasional road courses.
Raikkonen, after his debut with Kyle Busch Motorsports, said: “F1 and rallying is very different, and then NASCAR is completely its own way of racing and how it is run,” and “I had a good time there. I enjoyed it. It was also nice that it didn’t matter where you race – there are so many cars that you always end up racing with somebody.”
Villeneuve joined the chorus of praise, stating post his Daytona 500 debut in 2022, “The most fun I’ve had racing has been in NASCAR… wheel to wheel and fender to fender, you can’t beat the feeling in NASCAR,”.
Ex-McLaren hero Montoya confessed that NASCAR made him supremely happy. “In NASCAR, I am 10,000 times happier than I ever was there [F1],” Montoya revealed.
Also, past F1 champ Jensen Button participated in a few NASCAR races last season, driving for Rick Ware Racing. His top achievement came in Texas, where he finished 18th in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Button is planning a full-time comeback to racing. He’s set his sights on the World Endurance Championship hypercar class in 2024. Button last raced full-time in the Super GT series in Japan in 2019, and his last F1 race was in 2016, after starting more than 300 races in F1.
Button had previously voiced concerns about returning to a hectic full-time schedule. “I didn’t think that I’d want to do a full season again, because of how busy the schedule always is, but I feel that I’ll be racing in something next year doing the full season,” he said earlier this year.
“It’s great doing one-off races but you don’t get the best out of yourself, and that’s why doing three races here in Cup is really good, because I get to spend more time with the team and in the simulator and really get to work with my engineer, my crew chief to develop the skills between us and to develop an understanding. So, yes, I want to do a full season next year, time permitting. I need to balance a few things as I’ve been very busy this year. It will be endurance racing, which will be either IMSA or WEC.”
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