Watkins Glen Cup brings multinational grid

When people think of NASCAR, they quickly associate it with American motorsport. Sunday’s Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International, however, will provide an international blend as six drivers each from different countries are on the grid. The weekly presence of Mexico’s Daniel Suárez already makes the Cup grid multinational, but five others will show up as road course ringers including a pair of Formula One alumni, two Cup newcomers, and a lot of success in open-wheel and sports car racing.

Perhaps the most high-profile name of the field is Kimi Räikkönen. The Finn, who dabbled in NASCAR’s lower series in 2011 four years after winning the F1 World Championship, will make his Cup début in the #91 for Trackhouse Racing Team as part of their PROJECT91, a programme intended to attract international racing stars to stock cars. While “The Iceman” will be the first of his country to race in Cup, Mika Salo tested a Cup car in 2009 while Tuomas Pöntinen became the first Finnish NASCAR winner in the Whelen Euro Series at Vallelunga in July.

Räikkönen is not the only F1 driver as Daniil Kvyat will run his second race for Team Hezeberg. The Russian, who last ran an F1 grand prix in 2020, finished thirty-sixth in his maiden NASCAR start at Indianapolis in July following a suspension failure. Kvyat is the first Russian to compete in a NASCAR national tier, while global and regional series have seen the likes of Roman Mavlanov (Euro Series) and Kosma Guznyakov (Weekly Series).

Also driving for Hezeberg is Loris Hezemans of the Netherlands. The reigning Euro Series champion, whose father Toine owns Hezeberg, has run the Cup races at COTA and Road America but failed to finish either due to mechanical trouble.

Representing Germany is Mike Rockenfeller, a DTM champion and Le Mans ace who enters his first NASCAR race. Rockenfeller is contracted to drive for Spire Motorsports at Watkins Glen followed by the Charlotte Roval in October. He is the fifth German to race in the Cup Series after Lothar Motschenbacher (1970), Rolf Stommelen and Fritz Schultz (1971), and Klaus Graf (2004).

Kyle Tilley has the most Cup experience of the quintet with four Cup starts for Live Fast Motorsports. The 2021 Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 champion and Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona LMP2 winner hails from England.

The seven nationalities represented are the most in any NASCAR race, with the previous record also occurring at Watkins Glen. The 2013 edition featured six drivers born outside the United States with Marcos Ambrose and Owen Kelly from Australia, Ron Fellows of Canada, Victor Gonzalez Jr. from Puerto Rico, Colombia’s Juan Pablo Montoya, and the Italian Max Papis.

There could have been an eighth country at WGI had Tarso Marques of Brazil been able to take part as his Team Stange Racing originally planned, though they were not on the entry list.