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Jenson Button, the 2009 Formula One champion, will drive the No. 15 car in three NASCAR races of 2023. Button will race at COTA on March 26, the Chicago street circuit on July 2, and the Indianapolis Grand Speedway road course on August 13.
When he races at COTA, Button will become the third F1 champion to compete at the highest level of NASCAR. Jacques Villeneuve and Kimi Raikkonen have previously competed in NASCAR after winning Formula One championships, and Raikkonen is also scheduled to compete in the race at COTA.
Mario Andretti is the only driver to have won both the Daytona 500 and a Formula One championship. However, he won the Daytona 500 11 years before becoming an F1 winner.
During a 17-year F1 career that began in 2000, Button drove for Williams, Renault, Honda, and McLaren. He has continued to race, in addition to his duties as a Sky Sports F1 commentator.
The former Formula One champion won the GT500 class of the Japanese Super GT Series in 2018. Button has 306 career F1 starts, finishing his career as a substitute for Fernando Alonso in the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix, who was racing in the Indy 500.
Jenson Button has also raced in sports cars, competing in five World Endurance Championship races (including the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans). He also took part in off-road endurance racing (the Mint 400 and Baja 1000 in 2019). Mobil 1 has been a sponsor of his F1 career for 20 years.
Jenson Button makes his NASCAR debut in the first of three Cup races at COTA
Jenson Button, the 2009 Formula One champion, will make his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Circuit of the Americas on March 26, the first of three races in the 2023 season.
“The reason I was able to stay in Formula One for so long was because I always felt I was learning. There was always something new in terms of technologies, or I could still improve my driving or engineering skills within Formula One. When I got to my 17th year in F1, I felt like I lost that hunger a little bit because it wasn’t new anymore. There wasn’t something new to learn."
Jenson Button will drive the No. 15 Ford Mustang with sponsorship from Mobil 1 in a partnership between Rick Ware Racing and Stewart-Haas Racing. The latter will provide marketing and promotional support.
Button will also drive RWR's No. 15 (a chartered car) in the Chicago Street Race on July 2 and the Indianapolis International Speedway road circuit on August 13.
This year, Button has been testing the Chevrolet Camaro that he will share with Jimmie Johnson and Michael Rockefeller in the Garage 56 entry for the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Button tested the Garage 56 cars at COTA earlier this week.
Button will race at COTA with fellow F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen, who qualified 27th and finished 37th in his Cup debut with Trackhouse Racing's Project 91 Chevy.
