“Hindered Me More Than Anything” – Jenson Button Bluntly Reveals Hendrick Motorsports “Hurt” His Debut With the Garage 56 Project

Anyone coming into the sport of NASCAR from a different discipline of motorsport would face problems during their debut. Such is the case for 2009 Formula 1 world champion, Jenson Button. This weekend, the F1 veteran would be behind the wheel of a Rick Ware Racing car at the Circuit of The Americas.

However, recently, the British driver was asked if his participation in Hendrick Motorsports‘ Garage 56 project would have helped him or not. Button delightfully cleared the air about the same.

Jenson Button shares his thoughts about Garage 56 in comparison to regular Cup cars

While on paper, the Garage 56 car is supposed to be a Next-Gen car. However, the car has been reworked from the ground up, so that it can race at the iconic Circuit de la Sarthe for the LeMans 24-hour event. Hence, stepping out of such a car and actually getting behind the wheel of a regular Cup Series car would certainly have its differences.

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Button told the press, “I think in terms of the weight, yes. In terms of everything else, I think it has probably hindered me more than anything else. Because you braked at the three markers everywhere here. And then in a Cup car, you break before the four markers. So certain things are very different. We have traction control in there as well. So somethings have hurt me, somethings have helped me.”

Despite the problems, Button would definitely have a great time racing in the Cup Series. Albeit just for one race at the moment.

Button qualifies close to his Formula 1 counterpart for the NASCAR race at COTA

The button isn’t the only Formula 1 driver to grace the road course field at COTA this year. In fact, the former Ferrari and Sauber driver, Kimi Raikkonen, would join him. After qualifying concluded, both drivers ended up being close to each other in terms of time differences.

For the race on Sunday, Raikkonen would be starting in the 22nd position. Just two spots behind with a gap of merely 0.033 is Button. Despite the Finn having raced with the Next-Gen cars before, it is expected that the performance would be at the same level as that of his Formula 1 counterpart.

This is considering that the rest of the grid comprises drivers who have been racing in stock cars throughout their careers. Hence, defeating that level of experience can’t be something easy to deal with.

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Despite all of these things, we expect to witness a fantastic race at COTA. Hopefully, both the Formula 1 drivers are able to enjoy their time out there. Who knows, maybe they might choose to return soon again.