Five years of Next Gen races on road courses have come and gone. Over these past few seasons, a wide variety of road course ringers have driven in the NASCAR Cup Series. From Formula One World Champions to 24 Hours of Le Mans winners, the group of drivers who have earned the title of road course ringer is vast.
Project 91
It would be wrong to discuss road course ringers without starting with Project 91. Project 91 is a part time entry from Trackhouse Racing that exists to put international drivers in NASCAR Cup Series races.
Kimi Räikkönen, the 2007 Formula One World Champion, was the inaugural Project 91 driver. Räikkönen made two starts for the team, earning a 37th-place finish on debut at Watkins Glen International in 2022 and a 29th-place at the Circuit of the Americas the following season.
The now full time Cup Series driver Shane van Gisbergen got his start as a road course ringer with this program, winning on debut at the inaugural Chicago Street Course race. He followed that up with a top-10 result at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in his next Cup start.
Project 91 sat out 2024 and ran the 2025 Daytona 500 with Helio Castroneves, but returned to the road courses for the inaugural Naval Base Coronado race. Kevin Magnusen, former Formula One pole sitter and podium finisher, finished 27th-place and earned the fastest lap.
2022: Breaking Records
The 2022 race at Watkins Glen International set the record for the most nationalities represented in a single Cup Series race, with drivers from seven countries. The majority of the field was American, with Daniel Suárez representing Mexico. The event also featured Daniil Kvyat from Russia, Loris Hezemans from the Netherlands, and Kimi Räikkönen from Finland. England was represented by sports car driver Kyle Tilley.
Tilley made two starts in 2022 for Live Fast Motorsports. Scott Heckert and Andy Lally also made road course starts in 2022 for the team. Lally is technically not a road course ringer, but an article on road course specialists without mentioning the five-time Rolex 24 winner would have been wrong.
2010 24 Hours of Le Mans champion Mike Rockenfeller made his first Cup Series starts for Spire Motorsports, veteran road ringer Boris Said made his final Cup start for Garage 66, and sports car driver and winner at both Le Mans and the Rolex 24 Joey Hand ran a full road course schedule for Rick Ware Racing.
Team Hezeberg
Team Hezeberg was a team co-owned by NASCAR Euro Series owner Toine Hezemans and Craftsman Truck Series owner Josh Reaume. Their No. 27 entry attempted every road course except for Sonoma Raceway in 2022 with two-time NASCAR Euro champion Loris Hezemans behind the wheel.
Hezemans finished a best of 33rd twice. In the final three road courses at Indy, Watkins Glen, and the Charlotte Roval, the team expanded to two cars. Former F1 driver Danil Kvyat piloted the No. 26 to a best finish of 36th-place.
The team earned a career best finish of 22nd-place in the 2022 Daytona 500 with 1995 Indianapolis 500 winner and 1997 Formula One World Champion Jaques Villeneuve. After 2022, the team quietly closed shop and have not attempted a race since.
2023: Answering the Call
2023 saw a greater cast of ringers. Lally returned to drive for Rick Ware Racing to fill in for a suspended Cody Ware, while Mike Rockenfeller moved to Legacy Motor Club for the final three road course races filling in for a suspended Noah Gragson.
Räikkönen was joined by fellow-F1 World Champ Jenson Button at COTA. Button ran COTA, Indianapolis, and Chicago and earned a best finish of 18th-place on debut in three starts for Rick Ware Racing.
Fill-ins were also needed at COTA and Sonoma. Prior to his suspension, Gragson was ruled out of Sonoma due to concussion-like symptoms. Truck Series driver Grant Enfinger got the call, and drove the No. 42 to a 26th-place finish. While Enfinger has been a full-time NASCAR driver for nearly a decade, he still counts as a road course ringer since his only Cup start came on the track type.
Hendrick Motorsports had an opening at COTA, and called on IMSA champion Jordan Taylor to drive their No. 9 for an injured Chase Elliott. A strong qualifying result of 4th-place slowly turned into a 24th-place finish in the American’s only Cup Series start to date.
Following SVG’s win at Chicago, fellow Supercars winner and eventual season champion Brodie Kostecki drove for Richard Childress Racing at the Indy Road Course. Kostecki finished 22nd-place.
Finishing eleven spots behind Kostecki was a driver with multiples in Le Mans wins, Rolex 24 wins, World Endurance Championship titles, as well as a Formula One podium. Kamui Kobayashi piloted the No. 67 for 23XI Racing.
2024: Supercars to NASCAR
The Supercars invasion continued in 2024. Cam Waters and Will Brown both made their debuts driving for RFK Racing and Richard Childress Racing respectively at Sonoma. Waters did not finish but was scored 35th-place, while Brown faced electrical issues but still finished the race in 31st-place.
Waters was one of two road ringers in the RFK Stage 60 entry. Hand returned to the series in the Chicago Street Race, finishing 4th-place and winning Stage 2 of that event.
23XI Racing also fielded an extra entry for road course ringers. Kobayashi returned to the series at COTA, improving to a 29th-place finish. Joining him was former full-time driver and winner in both IndyCar and F1, Juan Pablo Montoya. The 2010 Watkins Glen winner made his first start since 2014, and earned a 32nd-place finish. As of 2026, this is the Colombian’s final race ever.
2025 to Present and Looking Forward
2025 saw a decline in ringers. Brown returned to the driver’s seat, this time finishing 39th for Kaulig Racing at Chicago, was the only proper road course specialist. Like Montoya, Ryan Truex made his first Cup start since 2014 at Mexico City for Joe Gibbs Racing, but is hardly known for road courses. Despite this, he finished 23rd, which is better than a majority of the ringers.
The only road ringer to actually start in 2026 was Magnussen at Coronado. Interestingly, two drivers make their Cup Series debuts on road courses in fill-in roles. Myatt Snider took over the Hendrick No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, finishing the race at COTA following what was later revealed to be vertigo from Alex Bowman. Additionally, Brent Crews took over the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE at Coronado due to injuries from Christopher Bell sustained at Michigan International Speedway.
Despite the apparent decline, there has been interest from several road racing drivers in running NASCAR. Multiple times in recent years, Supercars driver Broc Feeney has expressed interest in NASCAR, but nothing has materialized. Fellow Supercars driver Matthew Payne had planned a debut at Sonoma this season, but his commitments in Australia prevented it.
While there have been less in recent seasons, there is still interest in the garage in having these ringers make Cup Series starts.
