F1's Jenson Button calls for NASCAR race in Europe

Jenson Button drove a NASCAR-style stock car at the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. He thinks the American organization should try and take advantage of the excitement the car brought to the race this year with a race in Europe as soon as possible.

“I do think it can be big and doing a race next year would be great,” Button said at a press conference Tuesday. “We have to get the jump on what we did at Le Mans. I think it has such a big following, it created so many memes, I saw the craze on social media.”

The Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro was driven by Button, Mike Rockenfeller and Jimmie Johnson at Le Mans. The group was running under the designation of an Innovative Car.

They finished in 39th after completing 285 laps over the 24-hour span. While the car didn’t finish anywhere near the top of the standings, winning wasn’t the goal of the car.

Button said the interest the car created could help build a bigger audience for the sport in the country.

“It could be easily forgotten so I think it needs to be jumped on as soon as possible, so I think a race in Europe would be great,” Button said.

NASCAR has had a foothold in Europe for the past 15 years with the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. However, there has never been a Cup Series race in Europe. There are 12 rounds of the series held over six different weekends in six cities this year. There will also be an All-Star Endurance Race at Automotodrom Grobnik in Čavle, Croatia.

The six cities hosting the NASCAR Euro Series races this year are Valencia, Spain; West Kingsdown, England; Rome, Italy; Most, Czech Republic; Oschersleben, Germany; and Heusden-Zolder, Belgium.

Button is an F1 great having won the 2009 F1 World Championship. He also finished in third place in 2004 and second in 2011. The native of England won 15 races and 50 podiums in 306 starts in his career.

After retiring from F1 after the 2017 season, Button raced in the Super GT Series in 2018. He won the title with Naoki Yamamoto.

Button raced his first NASCAR race this year at the 2023 EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas back in March. The 43-year-old Button finished the race in 18th place.