F1 star George Russell would 'love' to try NASCAR

F1 2026 title challenger George Russell has said that he would one day love to try out NASCAR.

The Mercedes F1 driver recently appeared in a promotional video for WhatsApp alongside Team Penske star and 2023 Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney, in which he made that reveal.

"I appreciate all forms of racing and I know the challenges in everything we do," Russell told Blaney in the WhatsApp Video.

"Obviously, a lot of people for you guys on the ovals just think you're driving circles, and it's so much more technical than that. I definitely appreciate it. I'd love to try it one day."

"Well, we'd have to do a crossover, for sure," Blaney said back, hinting he'd also like to get behind the wheel of an F1 car.

"I didn't really grow up open-wheel racing at all, but I love road racing. It was a big thing for me to learn when I got into NASCAR because we do that quite a bit, and it's something I didn't really grow up doing."

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F1 stars have made NASCAR switch before

While Russell's comments did not suggest that a NASCAR switch is on the cards anytime soon, he would not be the first F1 star to swap open-wheel racing for a stock car.

2009 F1 world champion Jenson Button raced in three Cup Series road course races back in 2023 following the end of his F1 career, for example, competing at COTA, Chicago, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

2007 F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen has also raced in NASCAR, competing in the Truck and O'Reilly Series [then Busch Series] for Kyle Busch Motorsports at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2011, before appearing in the Cup Series over a decade later at Watkins Glen and COTA with Trackhouse Racing on their Project 91.

Colombian star Juan Pablo Montoya even raced full-time in both, completing 94 races and taking seven wins in F1 before later racking up 256 events in the Cup Series.

More recently, former Haas and McLaren driver Kevin Magnussen has confirmed he will be driving in the Cup Series race at the San Diego Naval Base Coronado later this month, another former F1 driver to take part in Project 91 at Trackhouse.

Given Russell's undeniable talent, it would certainly be fascinating to see how he got on if he were to ever make the switch to NASCAR, particularly if it was for a road course race.

For now, F1 and catching Antonelli in the championship is Russell's focus, but in the future, this would certainly be exciting to see.