This Is Why the NASCAR Cup Series Should Race at Le Mans One Day

That's exactly what happened at the 2023 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France at the hands of Hendrick Motorsports and the Garage 56 team's modified Chevy Camaro ZL1 NASCAR Cup chassis. As the established Euro-centric Le Mans aristocracy looked on, probably cussing under their breath in various dialects of German, French, Italian, and English that a damn Yankee just overtook their multi-million dollar LMP-2 ca, one couldn't help but drum up a peculiar image in their mind's eye.

That image, of course, would be a Le Mans track filled to the brim, not with European and Japanese LMP2, LMP3, and GTE cars, but with NASCAR Cup Series cars. Could America's oldest and most sacred motorsport legitimately field a race on Europe's most sacred race track? Like we said before, this would have been a laughable and almost insulting prospect for Le Mans racing fans even just 20 years ago. But as the racing world at large now knows by heart, the seventh generation of NASCAR Cup cars isn't your grandpappy's stock car.

Indeed, the historic seventh-generation NASCAR Cup car was designed to address decades-old stereotypes about American stock cars that, in fairness, were at least rooted in reality and not just toxic stereotypes. Ages-old gripes regarding poor aerodynamics, archaic suspension systems, and high-wall tires leagues behind that of a European racing series may have taken 75 years or so to address fully. But taking even a cursory glance at the gen-VII "Next Gen" NASCAR Cup car's carbon fiber chassis tub, and independent rear suspension with five-way adjustable dampers is just the start of the changes. Further goodies like aggressive aero-kits on the front, sides, and rear, F1-style single-lug, 15-inch wheels on improved Goodyear tires, plus the five-speed sequential racing gearbox instead of the tradional four-speed manual, let you know everything you need to about modern NASCAR.

It was these qualities, plus the 750-plus horsepower, de-restricted NASCAR V8, that made people's heads turn when the team of Jenson Button, Mike Rockenfeller, and Jimmie Johnson showed up to the world-famous 24-hour race with an albeit modified version of a gen-VII NASCAR Cup car at the Le Mans track. On-board video camera footage of the Garage 56 Cup overtaking Porsches, Ferraris, and Audis on the long Mulsanne straightaway will no doubt be played endlessly on YouTube and on broadcast television for years to come. But even without all the LeMans-specific modifications like carbon-carbon brake rotors, working headlights, and even more aggressive aero packages, we have reason to suspect a NASCAR Cup race at Le Mans would be nothing short of fireworks.

Don't believe us? Just look at what NASCAR was able to accomplish on the streets of Chicago this July. At the 2023 Grant Park 220, competitors could flex all of the amazing new capabilities of gen-VII NASCAR Cup cars across a road course that, in some ways, mirrors a scaled-down Le Mans circuit with its mix of fast straightaways and tight, complex corners. The racing on display in Chicago on July 2nd proved definitively that NASCAR could host some of the most exciting racing anywhere in the world with the right set of circumstances in place.

As far as amazing narratives go, the V8 Supercars Championship veteran and New Zealand native Shave van Gisbergen winning the race on his first NASCAR Cup Series start is nothing short of astonishing. Such a feat is almost unheard of in the modern era of the NASCAR Cup Series, nor has it been accomplished since 1963. Now then, imagine the same set of circumstances but replace the twisty streets of Downtown Chicago with that of the monstrous Mulsanne straight with a couple of nasty chicanes thrown in. Just imagining a hoard of NASCAR Cup cars roaring down this straightaway, slipstreaming and bump-drafting each other all the while, sounds like an experience unlike anything seen in the history of motorsport.

At a time when NASCAR is looking for any way possible to maintain its popularity deep into the 21st century, we can think of no better way than by showcasing the best and brightest cars and drivers in the business to an audience conditioned to believe stock car racing is a peasant's motorsport for hillbillys; only to prove just how wrong they really are. Of course, there'd be a few logistical hurdles to cover before a 35 to 40-car NASCAR race could take place halfway across the globe. But come on; it's not like Ford, Chevy, and Chrysler haven't been shipping race cars to France for the 24-hour race every year since the 1960s. These are all manageable, solvable problems with clear-cut solutions.

And to think, the only reason we're even fielding this discussion at all is that Hendrick Motorsports and Garage 56 had the cajones to stand up to the established Euro-racing aristocracy and tell them point-blank to shut the you-know-what up about NASCAR. But instead of doing so with loud yelling and swearing, they did so with the thunderous roar of an all-American V8 that made everything else out on the trot that day sound like a vacuum cleaner. Heaven forbid a NASCAR Cup car manages to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans outright one day.

That'd make people's heads explode while also making the likelihood of a Cup Series race on the track one day all the more a certainty. But what do you folks think? Is NASCAR racing at Le Mans even remotely feasible? Or are we talking out of our rear ends again? Let us know in the comments down below. Rest assured, whatever winds up happening down the line in the NASCAR Cup Series, you'll hear all about it right here on autoevolution.