{"id":509652,"date":"2026-07-04T15:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T15:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/509652\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T15:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T15:55:17","slug":"nascar-news-huge-nascar-classic-fleet-takes-on-le-mans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/509652\/","title":{"rendered":"NASCAR news: Huge NASCAR Classic fleet takes on Le Mans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Nascar-classic.jpeg\" alt=\"Huge NASCAR Classic fleet takes on Le Mans\"\/><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe NASCAR Classic field at Le Mans. Image: Supplied<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercheapauto.com.au\/catalogue-out-now\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1036058 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SCA-1196-Wk1-Cat-BPO-Speedcafe_728x90.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>HSR\u2019s first overseas visit runs in support of Le Mans Classic Legend, a historic event for cars that competed in the iconic 24 hour event from 1976 onwards.<\/p>\n<p>Among the 30-strong field is 2004 Cup Series champion Kurt Busch, who will pilot his 2020 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro, the car which won that year\u2019s race at Las Vegas en route to 10th in the standings.<\/p>\n<p>Busch\u2019s car features a tribute to his late brother Kyle, who passed away days after Kurt announced his Le Mans start.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor me, it\u2019s getting those juices flowing, grabbing gears, feeling the speed and the energy of the car again,\u201d Busch said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith HSR, I didn\u2019t know about it and started doing some research.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had a Goodyear tyre test, and a guy from HSR came up and said, \u2018You\u2019re going to Le Mans this year.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI said, \u2018What? How do you get to Le Mans? What are you guys doing?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe said, \u2018We\u2019re shipping as many cars as we can to Le Mans.\u2019 I\u2019m like, \u2018I have a car. Let\u2019s go.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Continuing the theme of honouring legacies, Victor Corda and Australian Chris Stillwell will each campaign Roush Fenway Racing-built cars with ties to the late Greg Biffle.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Parsons will pilot an iconic Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Lumina from the early 1990s, originally driven by \u2018The Intimidator\u2019 Dale Earnhardt.<\/p>\n<p>Former professional football lineman Scott Dolfi will drive a NEMCO Motorsports NASCAR Truck from 2016, originally raced by John Hunter Nemechek.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1036455\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/HSR-The-Mitty-2026-22-scaled-1-e1783057174749.jpg\" alt=\"Kurt Busch 2020 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro\" width=\"1616\" height=\"1078\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Kurt Busch will pilot his 2020 Cup Series Chevrolet Camaro at Le Mans. Image: HSR<\/p>\n<p>That truck is presented in colours raced by Nemechek in 2022 with Kyle Busch Motorsports.<\/p>\n<p>John Hunter\u2019s father Joe will pilot a 2006 Toyota Camry inspired by the #47 Old Spice car of Cal Naughton Jr (portrayed by John C. Reilly), one of a trio of cars inspired by the movie Talladega Nights.<\/p>\n<p>HSR and IMSA president John Doonan in a Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) inspired car, and Ryan Gemmell aboard a Chevy Monte Carlo wearing the colours of Sacha Baron Cohen\u2019s character Jean Girard.<\/p>\n<p>A 2006 Ford Fusion with ties close to home will be piloted by John McCormick.<\/p>\n<p>The car was built by JTG Daugherty Racing and used as the sister car to that of two-time Supercars champion Marcos Ambrose.<\/p>\n<p>While not raced by Ambrose himself, the car is presented in the STP livery from his first O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series (then Nationwide Series) victory at Watkins Glen in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>J.C. France, grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr, will drive a 2014 Chevrolet Impala \u2013 re-bodied as a Camaro and wrapped in the Garage 56 livery that Jimmie Johnson, Jenson Button and Mike Rockenfeller raced at Le Mans in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>France Sr was instrumental in entering two stock cars \u2013 a Dodge Charger and Ford Torino \u2013 in the 1976 running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans.<\/p>\n<p>The very same Torino will hit the track once more this weekend in the hands of Jean Algernas, celebrating the 50th anniversary of its first appearance.<\/p>\n<p>Two of the three races will be livestreamed on both the HSR and IMSA YouTube Channels.<\/p>\n<p>The first race will be streamed on Sunday July 5 at 1:00am AEST, with the second also on Sunday at 5:55pm.<\/p>\n<p>A spotter\u2019s guide for all entries can be found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hsrrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/59\/2026\/07\/01\/HSR-NASCAR-Classic-Road-To-Le-Mans-Spotters-Guide.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NASCAR Classic field at Le Mans. Image: Supplied HSR\u2019s first overseas visit runs in support of Le&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[253747,216614,20825,111,139,69,1732,213],"class_list":["post-509652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-kurt-busch","tag-le-mans","tag-nascar","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-slot4","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}