A somewhat sleepy start to the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season perked up this week with a couple of fresh faces on the Circuit of Americas entry list. Former Formula 1 star Jenson Button will attempt to make his first career Cup start, driving the No. 15 for Rick Ware Racing while Kimi Raikkonen comes back for round two.
Raikkonen, the 2007 Formula 1 champion, will be driving a third car for Trackhouse Racing, the No. 91 specifically earmarked to give international drivers a shot at Cup. It’s also an important crossover moment at a time Formula 1 popularity continues to near record highs. In the last week alone, F1 posted its second-largest audience ever on cable while NASCAR ratings at Atlanta Motor Speedway declined 17 percent year-over-year, a sign some future F1-NASCAR crossover could benefit stock car racing back here in the U.S.
For now, NASCAR will look to seize the momentum from the buzz surrounding the Button-Raikkonen duo and Jordan Taylor, the three-time WeatherTech Sportscar Champion subbing for Chase Elliott in the No. 9 for Hendrick Motorsports.
Can this trio start a trend? Here’s five more international names that could give NASCAR a boost this season, armed with either the resources or availability to give stock car racing a try.
The four-time Indy 500 winner got the itch to make the switch after moonlighting in SRX last year. A season-opening win there at Five Flags Speedway led to a promise by SRX CEO Don Hawk to get him a ride in February’s Daytona 500, but unfortunately, an opportunity for Castroneves with Trackhouse or Floyd Mayweather’s No. 50 team didn’t work out.
At 47, Castroneves has earned the right to race whenever and wherever he wants. With Dancing With The Stars on his resume, the Brazilian remains one of the most recognizable names in the NTT IndyCar Series, posting nearly 172,000 Twitter followers at last count.
Why hasn’t it happened yet?
“I believe it would be a little bit tough throwing myself in such a short notice,” Castroneves said in January when explaining how the NASCAR deal fell through. “And to go in a place that you’ve got to race yourself into it.”
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course offers no such restrictions. So why not do it then? In a perfect world for Castroneves, by then he has a fifth Indy 500 win under his belt to break the all-time record.
The 33-year-old from Melbourne, Australia lost his…
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