Button hinted at a possible return to NASCAR.

      This weekend Jenson Button will, for the penultimate time, take the start as a factory Cadillac driver: together with his teammates in car No. 38 he is preparing for the 6 Hours of Fuji.

      This year Jenson plans to end his top-level motorsport career, but that does not mean the 2009 world champion intends to hang up his helmet for good. We have mentioned more than once that he enjoys racing historic cars and takes pleasure in competing in them. But here is what he told journalists gathered for a press conference at the Fuji Speedway in Japan.

      Jenson Button: "I have many wonderful memories of competing in Japan, whether in Formula 1 over 16 years, the Super GT series for several seasons, or, of course, the WEC. I always love coming back here. There are so many motorsport enthusiasts and incredibly devoted fans in this country. I'm very happy to see them in the paddock, and I will miss Japan. But a time comes when you have to move on.

      A lot is going on in my life, and right now family is the most important thing to me, and looking after them takes a lot of time. Even though the WEC season consists of only eight rounds, those races demand a great deal of energy.

      Hypercars and their onboard systems are very complex — I don't think most people realize how much effort it takes to prepare for a WEC round. That work happens behind the scenes, and I will miss it, but there are many other things I want to do and I'm already looking forward to them.

      Besides, when you're 44, even getting into the cockpit takes more time than at 20 — that's for sure. For some reason I like racing historic cars, which is quite logical at my age. But perhaps I could race in NASCAR again, because the cars in that series are very different from the WEC hypercars; they're much simpler in design."

      Recently Button won a race at the historic motoring festival at Goodwood, where he drove a Jaguar C-Type that once belonged to Juan Manuel Fangio. He also has a 1967 Alfa Romeo GT Junior in his personal garage, and his collection was recently bolstered by another sports car — a 1962 racing Jaguar E-Type.