Toyota and 23XI Racing announced early Wednesday that World Endurance Championship champion Kamui Kobayashi will make his NASCAR debut in August at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
Kobayashi will will pilot the number 67 entry, with sponsorship from Toyota Genuine Parts and Toyota Gazoo Racing. The car was most recently piloted by action sports superstar Travis Pastrana, who finished 11th in this year’s Daytona 500. The 36 year old Kobayashi will compete for Toyota this weekend in the 24 Hours of Lemans in the Hypercar class. He has driven everything from Formula 1 to karts over his career, but admits his racing experience doesn’t include driving a stock car.
The original plan was for Kobayashi to make his debut at the Chicago Street Course, but the turnaround time as well as preparation was too close and Indianapolis was chosen instead. He will have two days of racing simulator prep, and may have a chance to run a Next Gen car on a test track. He feels as if he has some of the best experience and knowledge for this form of racing.
Kobayashi will become only the second Japanese driver in NASCAR history, joining Hideo Fukuyama who made 4 starts in Cup between 2002 and 2003. His hope is that his appearance may open the door for other Japanese drivers to explore stock car racing.
Image credit: NASCAR on Twitter
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