NASCAR talk Garage 56 ahead of Le Mans return for 2023

NASCAR heads back to Le Mans in 2023, in what will be a special event for both motorsport disciplines.

Le Mans celebrates its 100th year next year, whilst NASCAR turns 75, and so in a double celebration plans have been revealed for NASCAR to enter a modified Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into the race using the Garage 56 slot, which is offered up by the 24-hour race for entries for cars outside of the main grid.

It’s a great story, with NASCAR last joining Le Mans for the big race in 1976, when Bill France Sr brought a Dodge Charger and a Ford Torino to the grid, and the rejuvenation of it will spark the imagination of motorsport fans around the world.

As things begin to ramp up ahead of next year, then, Give Me Sport spoke to Michael Lock, chief executive of AMA Pro Racing and head of marketing for NASCAR Garage 56, at the BlackBook Motorsport Forum, to discuss their plans:

First of all Michael, give us an overview of NASCAR’s involvement with Le Mans…

“Well, it started out as a kind of what-if conversation with Jim France, who’s our chairman of the board, his family owned NASCAR and he is a real historian and lover of all kinds of motorsport, and he loves sports car racing.

“And the conversation developed, because it’s the 100-year anniversary of Le Mans, which is also by coincidence the 75-year anniversary of NASCAR. The NASCAR series has undergone a lot of change and updating in the last two or three years, so he felt it would be a good opportunity.

“So once he got a bit of enthusiasm from the folks at Le Mans and he mentioned it to Hendrick Motorsports who are a very, very professional NASCAR team, and Goodyear and they all said, ‘yeah, why not?’ At that moment, it got greenlit, and it was then that people like me