NASCAR Veteran Max Papis to Make Racing Return After Eight Years

Having stepped into the racing arena in 1993, veteran driver Max Papis has a diverse portfolio. which boats of runs in IndyCar, SportsCar racing, Formula One, the 24 Hours of Le Man. He has tried his hand at NASCAR as well, where he last raced in 2013.

Now, the 51-year-old is going to make a return to the arena. To be more specific, he will compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. The Italian will drive the #17 Chevrolet for SS Green Light Racing, in partnership with Rick Ware Racing.

In a way, the move makes sense because the outfit is helping his nephew, Pietro Fittipaldi, in the NTT IndyCar Series. So far, there has been no news of any sponsorship attaching itself to the effort.

Max Papis has some NASCAR ties despite not racing

Despite bowing out of the sport in 2013, Papis has still been around in the NASCAR paddock. As it turns out, he is working as a performance advisor for Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, who currently sits third in the NASCAR Cup Series championship.

This weekend’s race will mark Papis’ 96th race start across all three NASCAR series. During his tenure, he amassed four top 5 and 10 top 10 finishes. This includes a best finish of second place at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2010. In that particular race, he lost out to Boris Said in a photo finish. Mere millimeters separated the two drivers, as Max Papis ended up 0.012 seconds shy of the win.

It is also worth mentioning that there is a chance of the Italian driver pulling double duty. NASCAR’s preliminary entry list has Max Papis in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Indianapolis, which is expected. However, Rick Ware Racing has yet to confirm the Cup Series driver in the #53 car. So this begs the question of whether the team expects him to race in the Cup Series as well.

READ MORE: “We’re Trying to have Two Really Strong Cars” – Rick Ware Outline his Future Plans for his Cup Team