The four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon spent a day this October testing the NASCAR Cup Series sixth-generation car on the Charlotte Roval. Alongside his effort was Aston Martin’s F1 ambassador Jessica Hawkins. The collaboration came as a result of an effort by Valvoline and ended up with Gordon making a note of how much more advanced Formula 1 cars are than the Cup Series cars.
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He told motorsport.com, “I drove an F1 car many many years ago and the one thing that immediately stood out to me with an F1 car is that when the car has grip it tells you in the steering wheel.”
“It just immediately gives you that sensation of, ‘Oh yeah, it’s stuck.’ These [Cup Series cars], you never know whether you’re stuck or not, and so you just have to drive almost as if you’re drifting it constantly.”
Gordon’s experience driving a Formula 1 car came back in 2003 before the Indianapolis 500. He’d traded his stock car with Juan Pablo Montoya’s open-wheel car for speed demonstration laps. He was over the clouds at the time after driving the William FW24 and called it, “One of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced.” He posted a speed lap of 1:16.5.
Back in Charlotte, Gordon had required some simulator time to get himself reacquainted with the NASCAR car. It has been a few years since he hung up his boots and he had to get himself up to speed. Once he did, there was no stopping him. It was his first time driving a stock car on the Charlotte Roval and he made sure that Hawkins had a good time learning about the car.
Hawkins is left impressed with the sixth-gen Cup Series car
On the contrary to Gordon’s opinion, Hawkins was mightily pleased with how the NASCAR car performed. She said, just a few laps after being in the driver’s seat, “Getting the opportunity to drive a NASCAR race car was incredible from start to finish. The car itself was so different from anything I’ve driven before — it’s heavy and has so much power.”
At 29 years old, Hawkins is the driver ambassador for Aston Martin. She uses her position to promote diversity and inclusion in the sport. Notably, she was the first woman in the world to drive the latest generation of the F1 car, which she did at Budapest in 2023. She was also part of the stunt crew that worked on the James Bond film No Time to Die.
