“I’m not excited, but it’s going to be cool” Kyle Busch on ex-F1 world champions Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button entering the COTA Cup race

The two F1 World champions will be joined by 4 times IMSA champion Jordan Tylor who replaces injured Chase Elliott.

“I’m not excited, but it’s going to be cool” Kyle Busch on ex-F1 world champions Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button entering the COTA Cup race

Kimi Raikkonen, Kyle Busch and Jenson Button

For the first time in the sport, NASCAR will host two Formula 1 world champions in the same race. 2007 F1 Champion Kimi Raikkonen will fight 2009 champion Jenson Button In the 2023 COTA Cup race, the first Road course race of the 2023 Cup season. Raikkonen will drive the No:91 Trackhouse Racing Chevy, while Button will mark his debut in the No:15 Rick Ware Racing Ford.

While talking about the potential matchup between the Champion drivers Kyle Busch, the most informed driver in the 2023 Cup grid, pointed out that he isn’t much excited about it though it will be a fun experience. Busch added that he hopes Räikkönen has a better opportunity than at Glen, where he crashed out. Trackhouses Ross Chastain won the event last year, and the RCR driver experts said the experience makes Kimi in Trackhouse dangerous.

“Yeah, I mean I hope Kimi (Räikkönen) gets a better opportunity than he had his last time out; going out there and running a full race. But I think it’s fun. I think it’s great that they have that opportunity. Trackhouse won that race last year, so you know they’ll be a force to be reckoned with. The SHR guys, I think are doing the No. 15 ride for Jenson (Button) It’s cool to see the diversity of different backgrounds of drivers and where they come from,” Kyle Busch said.

“I’m not excited, but it’s going to be cool to have them out there and be a part of our show. They’re not used to the full contact sport of what NASCAR is. I’m sure Kimi’s eyes were opened quite a bit on how all that went down at Watkins Glen. But he’s more ready and more prepared this time around,” Kyle Busch added.

The F1 champions battle has drawn attention from around the world for the event. Raikkonen drove last year in the same car for Trackhouse at Watkins Glen, while Button is making his NASCAR debut. Though the Finnish driver had the edge over the British champion, Button has already driven the Next-Gen car while testing for his 24 Hours of LeMans entry with HMS Garage 56.

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Kyle Busch is not pleased with NASCAR allocating 50 mins practice session at COTA

Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch

The RCR driver, when asked about the extended 50 mins practice session at COTA, said he isn’t a big fan of the move. Busch has already tested at the track and ran closer to 200 laps. He likes to keep that advantage over his rivals. He said, “I don’t want to give anybody else anymore added track time. We had plenty when we were there. We ran close to 200 laps, and I was smoked after that one. So I didn’t need anymore track time,”.

“But we got that, I guess, so we’ll work on what we need to work on with the reduced downforce and the changes that they made to the car. We felt like we had a really good test. We have really good notes on what we had there. We tested with last year’s stuff, not this current one, and so it’s going to be a lot different, I’m sure. I don’t know – just with the amount of stuff that you can do in the sim, I feel like it would be fine for us if we didn’t have practice. But we’ll take the 50 minutes and go,” Kyle Busch added.

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