"Being in the Daytona 500 would be pretty cool”: McLaren boss shares his desire to race in NASCAR

Zak Brown feels running a McLaren car in NASCAR, particularly at the Daytona 500, would be “pretty cool.” He said this during an interview with Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the “Dale Jr. Download” podcast while adding that he understands entering the stock car league would be a huge commitment.

Brown is the CEO of McLaren Racing. He is widely known for leading the McLaren F1 team, which fields drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

The McLaren boss reckons racing in NASCAR doesn’t work for the England-based team, albeit he acknowledges wanting to strengthen his relationship with Hendrick Motorsports.

“Probably doesn’t work for us because it’s a massive commitment, right?” Brown said [0:08].

If McLaren enters a car in NASCAR’s most prestigious race at the Daytona 500, Brown said Hendrick Motorsports will be involved.

“Would we maybe one day put out a car at Daytona with Rick Hendrick? Maybe, I could see something like that. But I think a full-time effort is such a commitment and it is hard,” Brown shared [0:25].

Zak Brown also talked about the challenge of coming over from F1 to American racing series such as NASCAR and IndyCar, with two-time F1 champ Fernando Alonso failing to qualify for the Indy 500 in 2019.

“I got a rude awakening in 2019 when we didn’t qualify with Fernando at Indy, which was both the best and worst thing that’s happened. It was the worst because horrifically embarrassing. But man, I learned a lot of stuff. Don’t underestimate how difficult all these racing series are,” the team chief continued [0:48].

Brown got back to the possibility of racing in NASCAR and said:

“I think it would probably be […] take too big of a commitment relative to being based in England and things of that nature to do it. But being in the Daytona 500 would be pretty cool."

Zak Brown oversees operations at McLaren Racing including the Arrow McLaren team in the IndyCar Series. The England-based outfit also takes part in other motorsports series such as the World Endurance Championship (WEC) where it debuted this year with the 720S GT3 Evo in the LMGT3 class.

---

NASCAR’s Kyle Larson will attempt The Double next year with McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports

Kyle Larson will have a second go at “The Double” next year. This means Larson will race at the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day - both are the longest races from the respective racing series on the calendar.

The 32-year-old driver will race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Arrow McLaren Chevrolet in the afternoon before heading to Charlotte Motor Speedway in the evening.

His first attempt earlier this year was disrupted by rain, delaying the start of the Indy 500 and shortening the Coca-Cola 600. As a result, the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver was unable to complete all 1,100 miles of The Double.

Both races will happen on May 25 during the Memorial Day weekend next year.