Formula 1 drivers Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson of Visa Cash App RB venture into uncharted territory as they tackle a series of unique NASCAR-style stock car challenges on a dirt oval track in Texas.
While the duo are no strangers to expertly finessing top speeds in open-wheel F1 racing, they are challenged here to unlearn just about everything they are conditioned to know in handling the aerodynamically precise F1 cars to attempt stock car racing. Here’s all you need to know:
Two NASCAR professionals, Shane van Gisbergen (SVG) and Connor Zilisch, paired their expertise with Liam and Yuki, respectively, to coach them on just about all they need to know in handling the 500 horsepower, naturally aspirated V8 machines. · Stock car racing has a rich history in American Motorsport, with origins tracing back to the early 20th century, and maintains a continued surge of popularity in the U.S.
SVG is a three-time Australian Supercar Champion turned NASCAR Cup Series competitor who recently set the fastest lap in a modern NASCAR Cup Series car at 199.438 mph at Talladega Superspeedway (2024). And Connor, a North Carolina native, debuted his NASCAR Xfinity Series earlier this year. He won that weekend at Watkins Glen International, becoming the second-youngest winner in series history at 18 years old.
With the help from these Stock car ringers, the F1 drivers should be able to find a seamless execution of steering, counter-steering, braking, throttling, and finding grip on this unfamiliar dirt oval – but will they?
In a classroom-style session, the F1 drivers are introduced to three challenges they must complete before a final winner-take-all head-to-head race. In this briefing, Liam and Yuki learn that these dirt stock cars have only three brakes: the left front has a brake, but the right front doesn’t.
Arguably, the most informative pro tip provided to Formula 1 drivers is, “When you brake, it helps pull the car into the corner. Rely on the brake and the throttle more than the steering to guide the car’s direction,” as said by SVG.
The three challenges each driver must complete are:
1. Find the Line – Six sets of cones are placed on the track, forcing Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson to approach the turn, each with just the right blend of speed and steering matched with braking and throttling. Through this first challenge, the F1 drivers quickly learn to manoeuvre the high line vs. the low line. The high line offers more speed, whereas the tight, lower line forces the hand to hit the brake and get down earlier to avoid cone collision or spin out.
2. Cornering Speed – To be successful in this challenge, the F1 drivers must find the [nearly] perfect happy medium of going just fast enough into the corner, but not too fast that it would force a spin out, but not too slow where controlling the 500hp car into the corner becomes non-cooperative.
3. Qualifying Lap – The only goal of this challenge is to set the fastest speed, as the winner will decide the starting grid for the primary race based on the quickest lap time. Watch the episode to determine which driver had the fastest qualifying time by 0.0461 seconds and if they earned the upper hand heading into the final race.
In the number “22” paint scheme, Yuki emerges victorious after perfectly executed coach-mentoring from Connor.
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