There is plenty of excitement about the Circuit of the Americas Cup Series race with the addition of drivers from different disciplines.
The race will mark the first time that two Formula 1 world champions participate in the same race in the Cup Series. 2007 F1 Champion Kimi Raikkonen will be joined by 2009 champion Jenson Button for the race, in addition of the 4 times IMSA champion Jordan Tylor, as he replaces the injured Chase Elliott for the Hendrick Motorsports No. 9 car.
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Raikkonen will take the seat of the No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, while Button will drive the No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford.
However, the two-time NASCAR champion Kyle Busch is not buoyed by the news of such additions to the Cup Series race. But he acknowledged that it will be be fun.
“Yeah, I mean I hope Kimi (Räikkönen) gets a better opportunity than he had his last time out; going out there and running a full race. But I think it’s fun. I think it’s great that they have that opportunity. Trackhouse won that race last year, so you know they’ll be a force to be reckoned with. The SHR guys, I think are doing the No. 15 ride for Jenson (Button) It’s cool to see the diversity of different backgrounds of drivers and where they come from,” Busch said.
“I’m not excited, but it’s going to be cool to have them out there and be a part of our show. They’re not used to the full contact sport of what NASCAR is. I’m sure Kimi’s eyes were opened quite a bit on how all that went down at Watkins Glen. But he’s more ready and more prepared this time around.”
While Raikkonen already has some Cup Series experience as he drove for Trackhouse at Watkins Glen last year, it will be a Cup Series debut for Button.
The Richard Childress Racing driver also spoke about the extended 50 mins practice session at COTA. Since he has already run about 200 laps there, he said that he would have liked to keep the advantage of practice there.
Jenson Button and Kimi Raikkonen will race in NASCAR Cup Series at COTA 🇺🇸
Button plans to run 3 NASCAR Cup Series races, making his debut at COTA, and Kimi Raikkonen will drive a third entry for Trackhouse Racing 💪
Will you watch the race on March 26? pic.twitter.com/TE2tio6xZs— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) March 10, 2023
“I don’t want to give anybody else anymore added track time. We had plenty when we were there. We ran close to 200 laps, and I was smoked after that one. So I didn’t need anymore track time,'” Busch added.
“But we got that, I guess, so we’ll work on what we need to work on with the reduced downforce and the changes that they made to the car. We felt like we had a really good test. We have really good notes on what we had there. We tested with last year’s stuff, not this current one, and so it’s going to be a lot different, I’m sure. I don’t know – just with the amount of stuff that you can do in the sim, I feel like it would be fine for us if we didn’t have practice. But we’ll take the 50 minutes and go.”
After a good win at Auto Club Speedway, his first of the season, Busch finished 14th in the next race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No. 8 Chevrolet driver will be looking to bounce back at Phoenix Raceway.
Kyle being a Ahole as usual