While Lewis isn’t the first F1 driver looking to go Stock Car racing, thanks to Jeff Gordon, the reigning champ is more than just willing to give Nascar a try in the future.



During a recent interview with the BBC, Hamilton talked about spending some time at the Nascar season finale, before flying to Abu Dhabi for the last race of the 2015 Formula One calendar. Lewis seems genuinely fascinated by these cars, though part of the reason was that he didn’t want to miss Jeff Gordon’s last race, especially since the two of them are good friends.

“Jeff and I met in Nashville a couple of years ago. I was there working with a music producer and he took me to a bar where the Nascar people were. I bumped into Jeff and we stayed in touch from there. I’m a big fan of his. He’s a legendary dude and a really nice guy. We have always been very supportive of each other, messaging each other after our races and so on,” said the Mercedes driver.

Knowing that this was to be Gordon’s last year, Lewis knew he not only had to go see him, but also had to check out a Nascar race in person for the very first time.

“So I dropped everything I had and flew out to Florida just for that day and had an amazing time. Nascar is absolutely huge in the States. It gets massive audiences and I actually found it way more appealing in real life than it may appear on television.”

The reason for that is definitely the atmosphere and the noise. The TV certainly can’t put you there in the middle of that raucous crowd, and it won’t reproduce the sound of those glorious engines.

Lewis also described the atmosphere in detail, saying that “It’s a very different world from F1 – the teams are much smaller, to the extent that it almost reminded me of my Formula Three days. It’s not plush. The fans can get really close in the paddock and even be right next to the pit stops. And, in terms of the technology the teams have, it is kept much simpler compared to F1.”

That right there is a great reason to try out Nascar. The cars are a lot simpler than in Formula 1 and you’re definitely not relying on computers as much.

“The cars sound amazing and they are freakin’ rapid,” added Hamilton, before saying “It made me want to drive one – I really fancy a race in a Nascar one day. I’m not sure I’d do an oval, but possibly a street circuit or road course.”

Here’s hoping we get some footage of that as soon as possible!

Story references: bbc

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