How NASCAR is aiming to thrill on its Le Mans return

By:

Gary Watkins

Jun 3, 2023, 12:00 PM

After almost half a century since US stock cars raced at Le Mans, this year’s Garage 56 entry is certain to be just as much of a crowd-pleaser as crack NASCAR squad Hendrick Motorsport fields a Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for an all-star driver lineup

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“It’s going to put a smile on people’s faces.”

That’s how Jenson Button sums up the machine in which he is making his second Le Mans 24 Hours start. It’s something out of the ordinary, a car that tips its hat to the past and perhaps also the future. It’s a NASCAR Cup racer to all intents and purposes and it fills the Garage 56 slot reserved on the grid for an experimental racer, the so-called Innovative Car.

The truth is that the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 isn’t really very innovative, nor is the idea of bringing a NASCAR to Le Mans new. But the history of the US stock car series at the French enduro underpins the thinking behind this year’s campaign with an all-star line-up comprising Formula 1 world champion Button, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller.

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Gary Watkins

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Gary Watkins has, for reasons best known to himself, devoted all his working life to covering sportscar racing. This season is his 33rd as a motorsport journalist, during which time he has reported on major long-distance events on four continents and approaching 80 24-hour races. He reckons a degree in political philosophy makes him well qualified for covering the sometimes Machiavellian world of international sportscars.

Gary, who also writes for Motor Sport, Autocourse, RACER and others, lives in Surbiton close to the former workshops of the Cooper Formula 1 team but spends more time on the road than at home for most of the year.