Jimmie Johnson and Jenson Button will pilot the NASCAR Garage 56 at Le Mans.

Posted on January 31, 2023
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Jimmie Johnson and Jenson Button will pilot the NASCAR Garage 56 at Le Mans.

The driver lineup for the modified Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 next-generation NASCAR race car heading to this year's 24 Hours of Le Mans was confirmed during Saturday's Daytona 24-hour race.

The confirmed drivers are Jimmie Johnson, Jenson Button, and Mike Rockenfeller.

Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR champion, was widely rumored to be one of the drivers in the NASCAR Le Mans program, as the next-generation racer will be entered by his former team, Hendrick Motorsports. Le Mans' Garage 56 class is a single-car class for experimental vehicles.

Johnson, who switched from NASCAR to IndyCar after the 2020 season, announced his retirement from full-time racing last September, but a month later announced that he would return to NASCAR as a driver and part owner of Petty GMS on a limited schedule in 2023 He announced.

Button is a former Formula One driver who won the title in 2009 driving for Brawn GP, and drove in the 2018 Le Mans entry for SMP Racing, which retired early with engine problems. He has also competed in Japan's SUPER GT.

Rockenfeller is the most experienced of the three drivers when it comes to Le Mans, and as a result he is the main driver in the testing of the Next Gen race car, which was modified for the French classic race. 2010 saw him drive for Audi in this He won the race outright and in 2005 he won the GT2 class as a Porsche driver. This year will be his 11th career race.

Outside of Le Mans, Rockenfeller made his NASCAR Cup Series debut last year, joining Spire Motorsports on the road courses at Watkins Glen International and Charlotte Motor Speedway.

This year's Le Mans race is scheduled for the weekend beginning June 10; the centennial event is a highlight of the World Endurance Championship calendar and this year will see new LMDh cars face off against LMH cars in the premier hypercar class.

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