“You’re gonna be judged”: Jenson Button nervous about racing in NASCAR despite being an F1 winner

Former F1 world champion Jenson Button is nervous about racing in the NASCAR Cup Series for the first time in his extensive motorsport career.

Button is famous for his time in F1 with Williams, Benneton, Renault, BAR, Honda, Brawn GP, and McLaren. He claimed 15 wins and 50 podium finishes during his F1 stint and won the 2009 world title with Brawn GP, which later went on to become the Mercedes AMG F1 team.

The Briton followed this up by becoming a Super GT champion in 2018 and making an appearance in the Baja 1000. However, this will be a fresh foray into a whole new motorsport discipline for him.

In a sit-down interview with Bob Pockrass for Fox, the 43-year-old was asked why he felt nervous about the move. He said:

"I think I always am when I try a new thing. You are stepping outside of your comfort zone and you're gonna be judged, whatever. But, more than that, I always want to do a good job. I want to get the best out of myself and it is a challenge. But I will give it my all, definitely."

Apart from being nervous, Jenson Button is also excited, as this will be the first time his children will see him get behind the wheel of a car for a competitive racing series. He went on to add:

"I am doing all the preparation work. There's no serious testing for me but it is very limited testing. So, it is not easy but I am nervous because put a lot of pressure on myself. I have two kids now which is great and it is the first time they are going to get to see me race, which is so cool and I am really really excited about it."

Jenson Button has a three-race contract and will drive the #15 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang fielded by Rick Ware Racing at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. He has the backing of Stewart-Haas racing and Mobil 1.

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NASCAR more enticing and competitive with road courses, according to Jenson Button

Jenson Button feels NASCAR is more competitive and enticing now than it was in the 1980s when he was initially introduced to the series.

Button admitted that his fascination with NASCAR started with the Tom Cruise film 'Days of Thunder.' In an interview earlier in the year, he said:

“Growing up in the UK, we had four channels on TV back then, back in the late eighties, and we didn’t get any real sport outside of European sport. So it was actually Days of Thunder that first of all brought me to NASCAR, because it’s the first time I got to see any NASCAR."

NASCAR has a history of racing primarily in ovals but has since branched out to include road circuits, which Button approves of. He went on to add:

It’s so different to what I’m used to. And I think that’s probably what stopped me asking the question whether I’d be able to race in NASCAR, because it’s so different to anything I’ve driven before. And also back then it was more ovals – there weren’t really any street courses. So that didn’t excite me so much because it’s another skill set altogether. But now there are more road courses, it’s definitely more enticing and also I think I would be more competitive.”

Jenson Button has also admitted that he could consider racing in NASCAR full-time provided his wildcard run of three races produces impressive performances.