Daniil Kvyat, who initially dipped his toe into the NASCAR waters with three NASCAR Cup Series starts and one NASCAR Xfinity Series start in 2022, will return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series for SS-GreenLight Racing in the upcoming NASCAR Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 at Circuit of the Americas.
Kvyat will have partners for the event including GoTrax, and Sonoma Aviation.
According to SS-GreenLight Racing, Kvyat will pilot the No. 07 entry, which has been driven by Patrick Emerling thus far this season.
“I’m thrilled to have Daniil in the No. 07 at COTA,” said SS-GreenLight team owner Bobby Dotter. “You can’t get much better than a former F1 driver for a road course ringer. Daniil is a great competitor, but he’s also a great partner for our team. He’s been in the shop every day since he got to Charlotte helping to get the car ready and getting to know the team. We’re looking forward to seeing what he does on the track.”
Kvyat is ready to attack the track in a stock car again, and is pumped to try it out this time in a Chevrolet.
“I’m excited to get back into NASCAR. I had a lot of fun in my previous races. The competition style is very different from F1 and World Endurance,” said Kvyat in a press release. “I’m especially looking forward to my race at COTA. I’ve been there with F1, so it will be interesting to experience the track in a Camaro.”
Kvyat, 29, competed in 110 events in Formula One competition between 2014 and 2020, and recorded three podium finishes in his F1 career.
The driver from Ufa, Russia, finished 15th in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL in the fall of 2022. His best finish in three NASCAR Cup Series starts was 36th, which he achieved twice that season.
Heading into the next event at COTA, the No. 07 SS-GreenLight Racing team sits 34th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series owner standings. Kvyat’s road racing pedigree should go a long way to getting the team a reprieve in the rough luck they’ve had over the last couple of races.
Emerling, who started the season off with a 17th-place effort in the season-opening race at Daytona, had finishes of 33rd, and 28th at Atlanta and Las Vegas, and this past week at Phoenix he was swept up in a crash on Lap 6, which ended his day early.
