Jenson Button made it to the checkered flag in his NASCAR Cup Series debut on Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas, but it was far from easy.
“It was an emotional rollercoaster,” said Button. “First, it was terrible. I mean, I must’ve been last by the end of it. And I was just like, ‘Everyone: Go. I just need to drive and find a rhythm.’ I’ve never gone through a corner too wide, so often. And trying to place my car in the right place – I just got it wrong every time. Normally, if you’re a little bit slow through a corner, nobody tries to overtake you from the outside. Because they’re not going to make it all the way on the next one. But here they do, because they get a wheel inside for the next one, and if you turn in, you turn around.”
Button began the race in 24th and ended up fading into the pack due to various issues.
“The first stint was really bad – it was embarrassing for me,” the F1 World Champion said. “I was like, ‘All right guys, we need to pit, freshen the tires and I need some air – I need some fresh air.’ I got that. The pace was good, consistency was good. I was really happy, and passed a few cars which was nice.
“We got a little bit unlucky with the safety car because it was just two laps before our window. Pitted, then the next stint was mayhem. We also made a couple of changes that just didn’t work. Big oversteer – went from the car feeling great to really difficult to drive.”
The 43-year-old said that he almost stopped racing due to heat exhaustion.
“Finished 18th after almost stopping because I had heat exhaustion,” he explained. “It was so hot, I don’t have a fan in my seat which really didn’t help me too much. It was so hot, I thought I was going to faint in the car. So, I stopped twice for a minute. They put ice on me, gave me loads of water, and I went back out. I was so close to getting out of the car because I thought I was going to faint. I must’ve drank eight (or) nine bottles of water during the race. The team kept me calm, and it’s the reason why we got a good result in the end. So, I was happy.”
Hopefully, Button’s next NASCAR Cup Series race at the Chicago Street Course race on July 2nd goes better than this one.
