Formula One driver Romain Grosjean could cross over to NASCAR this summer

Formula One and NASCAR rarely intersect, but there’s potential brewing with Romain Grosjean, who could cross over this summer.

Stewart-Haas Racing has plans to get him a ride. He currently drives in F1 under the Haas banner.

“We may give it a go. I think it would be really cool,” Joe Custer, chief operating officer of Haas F1, told reporters last week. “It’s definitely on our wish list. We just have to make it work: whether it be this year, next year, whenever that is. We’re not sure.

“He’s made it clear that he wouldn’t want his debut to be on an oval, where he’s never done it before. There’s so much going on. We have to figure out the testing opportunities and all the things that would make it a success.”

That stipulation would lead Grosjean to a road course — Sonoma on June 26 or Watkins Glen on Aug. 7. It works perfectly with the F1 schedule because those are off weeks on that circuit.

“I don’t think there are any barriers to any of this,” Custer said. “We just have to figure it out and get it on the schedule.”

Truex Jr.’s pursuits

Martin Truex Jr. and Furniture Row Racing have been good for each other: a big-time driver with a small team that found a way to make it work seamlessly. Truex made the Final Four in the Chase for the Sprint Cup last season, an unexpected rise competing against the super powers.

Truex remains a viable Chase participant this year despite not winning a race. But things get muddled after this season because of an expiring contract. What comes next?

Asked whether he would like to renegotiate last week, Truex quickly shot back, “Right now.”

Obviously he wants to stay.

“The problem I’ve had with my career is it’s been up and down,” he said. “And that’s because of change. That’s because you get in situations where they don’t go the way you thought they were going to go.”

Truex has been a hard-luck kind of guy, competing for two races teams — Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Michael Waltrip Racing — that blew up.

“You look at Jimmie Johnson. You look at Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch,” Truex said. “They get with a team and they just keep building on that foundation. Year in, year out, they’re the guys to beat because they have that around them. They have that solid, just rock. ... They don’t have to figure out everything else that goes along with it.”

Bowyer’s future

Is Clint Bowyer feeling the championship squeeze?

Now in his 12th Cup season, Bowyer is struggling with an under-funded HScott Motorsports team. He finished 19th competing in his home state of Kansas last weekend and is now 26th in the points, one notch below Danica Patrick.

“No, we were with one of the best teams there was for seven years, was with a really good team for a few years and he decided to quit on me,” Bowyer said last week, alluding to Michael Waltrip Racing. “We are building back up. I know I’m going to a championship-caliber team for three years after this one. You will see me back.

“I feel like you get the race cars underneath you and you compete exactly where you have always competed. The history is there. Consistency has always been part of my racing and that lends itself to racing for championships and being competitive at the end of the year. We’ve got to get to where you can compete for those championships no matter what organization you are at.”

Bowyer’s odds should improve next year when he moves to Stewart-Haas Racing and replaces Tony Stewart, who is retiring.