Santino Ferrucci transitioning from IndyCar to NASCAR with partial Xfinity schedule
IndyCar driver Santino Ferrucci will join Sam Hunt Racing and Toyota Racing Development to race a partial NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule this season. Ferrucci, 22, was the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year in 2019 and finished fourth in last year’s Indy 500 race.
He will make his first start in the lower-level NASCAR series at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Feb. 27 and will run a limited schedule focusing on intermediate tracks, the team announced Friday.
Ferrucci spent the past two seasons racing a full-time NTT IndyCar schedule for Dale Coyne and Vasser-Sullivan Racing. The Connecticut native also competed in open-wheel events in Europe prior to IndyCar and was a test driver for the Haas Formula One team.
In 2018, Ferrucci was banned for four Formula 2 races for deliberately hitting a teammate during a cool down lap and was subsequently fired by his team. Ferrucci apologized for the action, but controversy surrounded his exit.
According to Fox Sports, Ferrucci is set to enter approximately 20 events in the No. 26 Toyota, at intermediate tracks, a superspeedway and a few short tracks, but will forego road courses. The full 2021 NASCAR Xfinity schedule can be found here.
This story was originally published January 8, 2021 at 5:03 PM.
