F1: Jenson Button interested in doing NASCAR road courses, but not ovals

At the Garage 56 announcement in Daytona ton Saturday, where Jenson Button was announced as one of the drivers for the car in this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, he was asked about trying his hand at NASCAR races.

The former F1 champion said, “Ovals for me is something where I really respect what the guys do because it’s far beyond anything I’ve experienced.

“Always racing with a little bit of yaw all the way through the corner, racing that close to each other and so close to the wall, is a skill I don’t have, I don’t think.

“I don’t know, I’ve never tried it. But road courses, I’m definitely interested.

“I would definitely be interested in racing on street circuits, road courses, but I just don’t want to jump in for one race – that’s not exciting to me.

“You can come away from it going ‘oh, I did a good job’ [but] you’re not at your maximum. I would want to do all of the road courses if I’m going to do them.

“We’ll see. That’s an option. Obviously, the car is a little bit different to what we’ll be racing at Le Mans.

“Less downforce, heavier, less power and all of that. It’s probably tricky, but I would jump at the chance if I had the opportunity.”

Mark Cipolloni reporting for AutoRacing1.com