Former F1 driver Kobayashi to make NASCAR Cup debut
Former Formula 1 driver and Le Mans winner Kamui Kobayashi will realise a “childhood dream” and make his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Indianapolis in August.
Kobayashi will drive for 23XI Racing at the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on Sunday, August 13, which will be held over 82 Laps around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course layout.
The race will be the fourth of five road course races of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, following July’s Chicago Street Race where Shane van Gisbergen is in action.
Kamui Kobayashi will drive the Camaro steered by Travis Pastrana at the Daytona 500. Photo by John K Harrelson / NKP / LAT Images
Kobayashi is the first Japanese driver to go NASCAR Cup Series racing since Hideo Fukuyama in 2003 and will steer the #67 23XI Toyota Camry previously used by Travis Pastrana to a P11 finish at the Daytona 500.
Ever since Kobayashi fell in love with motorsport he has wanted to race NASCAR and he is thrilled to know his dream will come true.
“When I was like four or five years old I said ‘wow, that (NASCAR) is cool!'” he said.
“The first time when I raced a go-kart, honestly I didn’t know Formula 1.
“What I saw when I was really young was a NASCAR race, because it was an oval and I remember thinking one day to race in NASCAR was my dream.”
Kamui Kobayashi sprays champagne on the podium after his memorable third place at Suzuka in 2012. Image: LAT Images
The 36-year-old is a veteran of 75 Formula 1 Grands Prix between 2009 and 2014 when he raced for the likes of Toyota, Sauber and Caterham.
The undoubted highlight of his career was his sole Formula 1 podium, which was the realisation of another dream.
To the roars of the packed stands at Suzuka, Kobayashi held off Jenson Button to score an unforgettable third place finish on home turf in 2012.
Despite the special result, the Japanese driver lost his Sauber drive five races later and returned to Formula 1 in 2014, albeit with the struggling Caterham outfit in a forgetful point-less campaign.
Post Formula 1, Kobayashi has been busy endurance racing and with tremendous success.
Since signing up for the Toyota Gazoo Racing factory team in 2016, he has collected 14 wins in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
This run included back to back titles in 2019/20 and 2021, while he has already scored two wins this year.
The standout of his endurance career so far is the 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours triumph with Mike Conway and Jose Maria Lopez.
With a record like this, Toyota Racing Development USA president David Wilson said “why not” when the chance to race Kobayashi came up.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing GR010 Hypercar of Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez crosses the line to win the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans. Image: LAT Images
“To have Kamui carrying a global flag with him to our sport will put some eyeballs on it that we haven’t had before,” Wilson said.
“Then, focusing more narrowly on Japanese drivers, I would say we have even broader goals for global drivers and aspirations.
“So European kids who maybe have a frame of reference that goes through Formula 1, maybe this opens another to go ‘well, why not NASCAR?’”.
Kobayashi admitted his NASCAR debut could spark renewed interest in NASCAR and the “American dream” around Japan, which hosted three exhibition races in the 1990s.
“Japanese people being in motorsports or other sports in United States is something like a big dream,” he said.
“When you look at the baseballer, Shohei Ohtani, he’s very famous in Japan, but he’s famous in the United States as well.
“We always call it the ‘American Dream’ and I think that’s what we need to make the door open.
“This is why I really want to try because NASCAR is one of the biggest sports in the United States and if I have the opportunity, this is the way I want to try.
“I’m really proud to be here to announce it, not full-season but even this one race, I think this opportunity is important for me.”
Before Kobayashi goes NASCAR racing, he has a Le Mans 24 Hours to win for Toyota this weekend.
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