Kimi Raikkonen Racing in Nascar, WTF

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http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/sto...kimi-raikkonen-nationwide-series-entry-052111

The pieces to the Kimi Raikkonen Nationwide Series puzzle are coming together.

As Kyle Busch left the media center Friday night following his 28th career win in the truck series, his story changed on whether his team would field a car for Raikkonen next week from “no” to “maybe.” But before Busch walked out he added, “but I won’t own it.”

FOXSports.com has learned that the car is being assembled by Kyle Busch Motorsports but the owner points will come from Joe Nemechek’s No. 87 entry, registered under NEMCO Motorsports, which is currently 19th in the NASCAR Nationwide Series points standings.

The crew will come from NEMCO with additional support from KBM employees. NEMCO will provide transporter, equipment and back up car for the race.

Raikkonen finished 15th in his NASCAR Camping World Truck debut. The 2007 Formula One champion was approved to compete in next Saturday’s Nationwide Series race prior to Friday night’s event.
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I guess the Iceman's NASCAR experiment won't be ending just yet.
 
I have a feeling he won't like it next week, since I can't see him being as competitive.

That may be the end of him in Nascar.
 
Cale
I have a feeling he won't like it next week, since I can't see him being as competitive.

That may be the end of him in Nascar.
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Why would he give up simply because he isn't immediately competitive? I doubt he is doing this expecting to walk away with victories or podiums, he isn't an idiot.

He seems to be enjoying it, just as he is enjoying rallying. He doesn't seem too bad, twas a decent debut.
 
Ardius
Why would he give up simply because he isn't immediately competitive? I doubt he is doing this expecting to walk away with victories or podiums, he isn't an idiot.

He seems to be enjoying it, just as he is enjoying rallying. He doesn't seem too bad, twas a decent debut.
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He said if he didn't do well he wouldn't come back.
 
"Do well" is quite a vague line. Who knows what he thinks is "doing well"? Perhaps he realises that he is only a rookie and he knows not to expect victory but perhaps not.
Considering he hasn't given up rally yet, I believe he realises he won't be winning races just yet.
 
Ardius
"Do well" is quite a vague line. Who knows what he thinks is "doing well"? Perhaps he realises that he is only a rookie and he knows not to expect victory but perhaps not.
Considering he hasn't given up rally yet, I believe he realises he won't be winning races just yet.
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I hope so, he has potential. He just needs to work on running the middle -high side of the track. He was puttin down moves on the bottom though.👍
 
Infineon is raced in June, but I'm not sure if it conflicts with his WRC schedule.

There's also Montreal for Nationwide series, and he's familiar with that track from F1 and Watkins Glen in August.

AFAIK his next scheduled CWTS race is the October Martinsville race which is grouped with the Cup series.
 
ESPN.com
CONCORD, N.C. -- Former Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen will make his Nationwide Series debut Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway in a car fielded by Joe Nemechek and Kyle Busch.

Raikkonen's name was on the official entry list released Monday in the No. 87 under the ownership of NEMCO Motorsports run by Nemechek, who formed an alliance with Busch to make the deal work.

Raikkonen made his NASCAR debut in Friday night's Truck Series race for Kyle Busch Motorsports, finishing 15th. He hinted then about the possibility of running in the Nationwide race and Busch acknowledged that a car was in his shop even though he doesn't have a Nationwide license to run one.

Nemechek, who also fields Toyotas, agreed to let Raikkonen drive his car that is guaranteed a spot in the field ranked 19th in owner's points.

Raikkonen said he had fun in the Truck race even though he got off to a rough start hitting the wall.

"I hit much harder and destroyed the car a little bit," the 2007 F1 champion said after the race. "The car actually ran really well there before the pit stop. Once we got to the pit then the tires and the tire pressure, it was better.

"For sure, there is still a lot to learn and improve, but I think when we have another race it will be better," he said.

There is also speculation Raikkonen will make his Sprint Cup debut next month at the road course in Sonoma, Calif. Cup driver Juan Pablo Montoya, Raikkonen's F1 teammate at McLaren until he left in 2006, said the Finnish driver needs to move to the United States and get in a Cup ride if he plans to make a commitment to NASCAR.

"If he's going to do it, he's got to do Cup like I did," Montoya said. "He's not a young guy who needs experience."

David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com
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Just a little more information on the car Kimi will be driving
 
Apologies if there's a thread on this already.

Anyhow, Former F1 Champion and WRC Failure Kimi Raikonnen has made his debut in America's premier motorsport category, NASCAR. He's competing in the Camping Truck Series, and made his debut at the Top Gear 300 at Charlotte. He was as high as 13th at one point, but a pit lane speeding penalty and heavy damage to his front splitter pulled him back to a finishing position of 27th.

Thoughts?
 
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Smart_Roadster
Anyhow, Former F1 Champion and WRC Failure Kimi Raikonnen...
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I'm sorry, but I have to pick on this. Even though you are from France, where the great Mr. Loeb is from, it seems that you have absolutely no idea how demanding motorsport rallying is. There is no one, who can be competitive on top level rallying after one season. You must remember, that Kimi hasn't got experience even from national rallying, like all drivers that make their way into WRC have. They have several years of national rallying, then several years of international rallying and then they start to drive on highest level of the sport.

All these other drivers have learn to read the road, setup the car, make pace-notes, listen and trust their co-driver, and everything else on their previous years of rallying. Kimi is learning all of this in WRC. Also road knowledge is crucial for rallying, which he naturally doesn't have. Still he is matching/beating Wilson, who's been driving in WRC for several years. If in 3-4 years time Kimi hasn't developed his speed and constancy so that he can fight for victories, then we can talk about failure. Not yet. Rallying is probably the most difficult form of motorsport. There's so many changing factors and you keep going flat out on narrow roads.

Oh, and it's Kimi Räikkönen ;)
 
vompatti
I'm sorry, but I have to pick on this. Even though you are from France, where the great Mr. Loeb is from, it seems that you have absolutely no idea how demanding motorsport rallying is. There is no one, who can be competitive on top level rallying after one season. You must remember, that Kimi hasn't got experience even from national rallying, like all drivers that make their way into WRC have. They have several years of national rallying, then several years of international rallying and then they start to drive on highest level of the sport.

All these other drivers have learn to read the road, setup the car, make pace-notes, listen and trust their co-driver, and everything else on their previous years of rallying. Kimi is learning all of this in WRC. Also road knowledge is crucial for rallying, which he naturally doesn't have. Still he is matching/beating Wilson, who's been driving in WRC for several years. If in 3-4 years time Kimi hasn't developed his speed and constancy so that he can fight for victories, then we can talk about failure. Not yet. Rallying is probably the most difficult form of motorsport. There's so many changing factors and you keep going flat out on narrow roads.

Oh, and it's Kimi Räikkönen ;)
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I'm not from France, I just like Smart cars. Smartville is the name of the factory in Hambach, France where they are made. I just put it as a joke.
I'm actually British.
 
Raikkonen is just bored. He was F1 champion, then got bored. He didn't do particularly well at rallying, so got bored. He'll get bored of Nascar as well. I wouldn't be surprised if he enters Le Mans at some point, or makes a move to motorbikes.
 
What are you talking about. He is doing pretty good at rallying. He can't compete with top guys with 1.5yrs of experience lol. But he said it once he wants to drive at Le mans 24hrs so probably some day he will do that
 
NFSCARBON1
Raikkonen is just bored.
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I wouldn't say so. He is just doing what he wants and trying what he wants. Basically he is doing what we do with games. Try different games and different genres in racing. I bet everyone of us would give a shot at F1, WRC and NASCAR if we could. The difference between us and Kimi is, that he CAN try all of these in real life and that's what he is doing :)
 

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