Indianapolis is no stranger to international racers and Sunday’s Cup Series race will be no different. Shane Van Gisbergen, Jenson Button, and Kamui Kobayashi will be part of the upcoming Cup Series event in Railroad City. Kobayashi will become the first Japanese driver in two decades to start a Cup Series race.

The Japanese driver is a part-time driver for NBA legend Michael Jordan’s 23XI Racing team. Kobayashi who is 36 years old used to be a Formula One racer for KCMG and has impressed several NASCAR legends since he left F1 and tried his hand at other motorsports competitions.

Kamui Kobayashi will become only the second Japanese-born driver to ever compete in the Cup after making his Indy 500 debut.

“I’m actually a big fan of NASCAR,” he told R&T. “My first motorsport to watch on TV when I was like four years old was an oval race. I would say: ‘That’s cool. I want to be a race-car driver. That’s why I’m here now.”

“When I entered motorsports, obviously, you start in go-karts. Growing up in the open wheel, the way you dream is Formula One. After you retire from Formula One, I did endurance races, but I was always thinking: ‘How can I get to NASCAR?’”

One former NASCAR driver who has been highly impressed by the Japanese is Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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In a recent episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, Junior and Mike Davis were previewing the race at Indianapolis this coming Sunday when they spoke about Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin’s No. 67 car and his form. Junior said that Kobayashi had the skills to make whatever car he drives faster than everyone else. The 48-year-old was impressed with the Japanese’s performance at the 24 hours of Daytona earlier and said that he was ‘insane’ during testing, with 23XI Racing ahead of Indianapolis.

Speaking about Kobayashi’s race craft, Junior said, “Kobayashi, we’ve seen him just be ridiculous at the 24 hours of Daytona and every car that he drives in is like, he’s lights out faster than everybody else.” 

“It’s a bit talked about but it’s also, I’ve been on this broadcast and there is sort of this unspoken like, ‘Okay yeah this guy is better than everyone else.’ We don’t really dive into that during the broadcast because you don’t wanna put the rest of the guys down but he’s just so damn quick every time he gets in a car.”

Dale Jr also spoke about the time when Kobayashi used to race for Wayne Taylor and that even then, the 36-year-old’s speed was something to marvel at.

“And every time he was racing for Wayne Taylor it was like, ‘okay he’s gonna be a second faster than everybody on the track.’ And so, I’m hearing rumours that the testing that they did with him, he was insane. Insane!”

Going into Indianapolis, Kobayashi will have a familiar face in Jenson Button for company on the grid, and Shane Van Gisbergen. SVG earned one of the most impressive victories of his career when he blitzed the field and won his debut race in NASCAR at Chicago. Many believe that the Kiwi has a team lined up for his reported full-time NASCAR season in 2024, including Dale Earnhardt Jr.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr. Believes SVG Already Has a Set Path to NASCAR

In an earlier episode of the Dale Jr. Download podcast, Junior was discussing how SVG would come into NASCAR next season and the team he would race for with Mike Davis. During the conversation, Junior iterated that the Kiwi already had a set plan and an idea about where he will become 2024.

“I believe that he already has all his teams lined up and that he would not turn his back on what’s going on for him in v8 Supercar. He would not turn his back on what’s stable and secure without a plan already in place,” Dale Jr. said.

“I think that the decision on who and what he will drive in NASCAR are nearly shored up or laying right there in front of him. He is very aware of what team he has opportunity with,” he added.

While Shane Van Gisbergen might probably be full-time in NASCAR next year, his immediate goal is getting a strong result at Indianapolis. Having won his debut race and with so much speculation around him, the pressure will be on the Kiwi to deliver. It will be interesting to see how the Supercars champion deals with the pressure and performs in the race.

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