NASCAR ace Kurt Busch made the most of a rare weekend off from Sprint Cup duties by flying to Baku, to see the Haas F1 team in action at the European Grand Prix.
Busch races for Stewart-Haas Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, co-owned by Gene Haas who entered F1 for the first time this year with his own team.
Busch said to Haas back in 2014 that he was keen to try out the team’s F1 car one day, and was told he could if he won the Chase. He ultimately finished the year 12th in the final standings.
In Baku, Busch got as close as he has so far to driving the Haas car, getting behind the wheel for pictures ahead of the European Grand Prix.
When asked if he would like to sample an F1 car, he quipped, “Who wouldn’t!”
When asked about the F1 experience in Baku, Busch observed, “Where NASCAR is number one – for the fans and sponsors to get that return. The F1 mentality and the paddock, it protects the drivers to stay as focused as possible on the racing and on performance. They are less accessible to fans.”
“So [it would be good] to take some of that away and give back to the culture and the people who are from that country to get a different feel from their driver.”
“I think social media platforms are the first step in allowing that to happen. I heard Lewis [Hamilton] was in trouble on Snapchat, because of the access he was giving fans.”
“For us, NASCAR heard I was coming to an F1 race and they wanted me to sign into their account and they want me to promote F1 on the NASCAR Snapchat channel. It’s all controlled differently.”
On how Haas entry into F1 has been received in the United States, Busch said, “There definitely is more energy, even when Gene [Haas] came back for one of our races and there was the recap show, or the highlight videos – and everyone poured into our team hauler and they were watching the highlights. You would not have seen that before.”
“There is definitely a genuine energy and passion that he has created for all American motorsports to look up to root for.”
As for how F1 can succeed States-side he admitted, “I am not sure what is missing but I know what is successful. The NASCAR circuit is successful with the size of the venues and the fact that fans can watch from one perspective and see the whole track.”
“Our culture loves the side-by-side racing, the contact, and our road courses are very popular right now. Sonoma is very popular with the fans, Watkins Glen as well,” explained Busch.
“I think a street course would really create some excitement – this type of venue, where a city brings motorsport to it, like a city centre, that could be a huge change for our sport.
“But the open-wheel side of it, to me, they had the [IndyCar/ChampCar] split in the mid 1990’s and the popularity went straight to NASCAR. I think we are starting to see this next generation show more appreciation for road racing and for the sport in general.”
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