NASCAR Cup: Where did Jenson Button and Kamui Kobayashi finish in Indy RC?
Two very familiar names from the world of Formula 1 were in NASCAR action on Sunday as Jenson Button and Kamui Kobayashi took to the track in Indianapolis.
This was Button’s last scheduled appearance of the current NASCAR season for Rick Ware Racing Ford whilst for Kobayashi, he was making his NASCAR debut racing for 23XI Racing Toyota.
然而,这被证明是一个艰难的dri的种族vers…
Button and Kobayashi finish well down the field
It was a scruffy race for Button on his way to finishing P28 in the 39-strong field. Penalties for speeding in the pit lane and corner-cutting came either side of a fierce battle with Ricky Stenhouse Jr, who would finish just up the road in P25.
Button cut a frustrated figure as his car did showcase the pace to warrant a much better result, but his mistakes (which he did own up to) cost him dear.
“It’d be nice just to get a finish,” Button said after the race.
“The pace is there. It’s just that I made mistakes today. The car was working well. Yesterday was frustrating just because we didn’t have any pace. Today, the guys did a really good job of finding a setup that worked for me.
“I could brake later, so I could make a lot of moves. I can’t imagine how many cars I actually overtook during the race. But at the end of the first pitstop, I was speeding into pitlane. So, I had to do a drive-through.
“It kills your race, about 30 seconds in pit-lane. So, it sets you back a lot, and then when I made a move on someone, I think [Ricky] Stenhouse Jr, he spun me around and it cost me a bit more time. It wasn’t great.
“然后推到最后追逐凯文[哈里ick], I locked up and went straight across the grass in Turn 1. So, had to do a stop-and-go. It was messy. But, the pace was there. It was really good.
“I think we had the third or fourth quickest lap of the race? So, went really well. Just a disappointing result. I enjoyed it. Lots of overtaking, wheel-to-wheel banging as you could probably see by the car!”
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Kobayashi also had a scruffy race with a couple of spins and had his own personal battle with Stenhouse Jr which he came out second-best in.
Even though the former Toyota, Sauber and Caterham driver finished down in P33, he still got a massive amount of enjoyment in his debut run in the series.
“First of all, I was waiting for a caution,” said Kobayashi post-race. “It never happened. I definitely enjoyed it.
77 laps, no caution is pretty long but I think I learned a lot. We had some good speed, as well. I got hit by someone, but this is NASCAR. But the racing in the field was great. It’s a really cool championship.
“I had a great experience here. Thank you to all of the support from Toyota, Toyota Gazoo Racing North America.
“This is a dream come true.”
The race was won by Michael McDowell, who booked his place in the Play-Off series.
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