McRae eyes NASCAR move?

Former WRC star, Colin McRae has revealed that he is 'considering' a move to NASCAR in the not to distant future.

The Scot, who won the world rally championship in 1995, contested his second Dakar Rally back in January with Nissan, before crashing out on the sixth stage. Since then though, Nissan has confirmed that they won't be taking a factory car to the 2006 addition, leaving the former Citroen and Ford ace without a seat.

Speaking to Top Gear magazine, McRae, who attended a NASCAR event recently and who also raced in the UK's version back in 2002 at Rockingham, when it was known as ASCAR - it is now SCSA - added that if he does do it he would not do it half-heartedly.

"If I go and do it, I want to go and commit to it," he confirmed.

"I think you've got to look at least a couple of years' plan.

"I could go and do a couple of NASCAR tests or a couple of races, but then that would be deciding time."

How likely such a move would be remains to be seen. However last season he was in discussions with Skoda about returning to the WRC and although he eventually declined the offer, it was understood that he would only take part in selected events as he didn't want to commit to the entire 16 events.

NASCAR in contrast has races virtually every weekend, so how this would fit in with his plans is open to debate.

It is also questionable how big an attraction he would be to NASCAR, as while he is a big star in Europe, he last raced in the WRC back in 2003, and as such is no longer quite such a marketable commodity. Rallying also isn't particularly big in the US.