Jenson Button relished the opportunity to drive in NASCAR: “The action is amazing”

Last weekend's NASCAR Cup Series race at the Circuit of the Americas was a tale of two halves for Jenson Button. The former F1 driver made waves in the stock car racing world after announcing his debut in the series. He finished in a respectable P18 after his first outing at the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix.

The 68-lap-long race was filled with many different storylines to follow, with the presence of the 2007 F1 World Champion accompanying another former F1 driver and champion, Kimi Raikkonen.

The field also saw the debut of American IMSA driver Jordan Taylor, as well as NTT IndyCar Series driver Conor Daly's presence on the field for the 75-lap-long race.

Button elaborated on how he enjoyed the raw racing action that Stock Car Racing has come to be known for. He said (via Motorsport.com):

"The action is amazing, I have to give it to these guys. The first ten laps, they just destroyed me, left me standing. Every time I was in a corner I had someone overtaking me and I was like, 'This just feels wrong.'"

With the ultimate finishing position of P18 on his debut behind the wheel of a big, heavy stock car, Jenson Button managed to impress several people on and off the track with his foray into the sport. He will be in action once again later this year in the Chicago Street Race.

Jenson Button speaks his mind on the aggressive side of NASCAR

While Jenson Button managed to overcome the initial difficulties behind the wheel of a NASCAR Cup car, the 43-year-old also had a unique take on how the race ended.

With Tyler Reddick managing to hold off William Byron and Kyle Busch in triple overtime, Button spoke about what the restarts felt like from the middle pack onwards.

As many people from the fraternity calling the sport out for the lack of respect the drivers have for each other in the modern age of NASCAR, Jenson Button added to the list, saying:

"People are braking later than me and they just hit a car and use that to slow them down. I enjoyed the race, I'd say 60% of it. 40% of it, kind of felt a bit silly, you know the amount that we were hitting each other. There's points where it feels that we could do better."

Jenson Button was not the only driver to speak on the issue, with full-time drivers such as Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin among several others calling for a change in the sport.