Kimi Räikkönen making Nationwide debut but uncertain about NASCAR future

CONCORD, N.C. – Kimi Raikkonen will make his Nationwide Series debut at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend, but as far as his future plans, the former Formula One champion said he was unsure whether he will return to NASCAR and when that return might come.

Raikkonen, who drove a truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports last week at Charlotte and then tested a Sprint Cup car for Robby Gordon Motorsports on Tuesday, will drive for Nemco Motorsports in a KBM-prepared Nationwide car this weekend in the Top Gear 300.

Whether the 31-year-old Finnish driver goes Cup racing remains to be seen.

“You always have in mind to try to do [Cup],” Raikkonen said Thursday prior to Nationwide practice. “Another thing is it going to happen or not. I don’t know.

“Of course I am probably more keen to the road courses than anything else. I leave Saturday as soon as the race is over back to Europe. I have other things to do. After that, I don’t know when I will be back.”

Raikkonen, whose primary racing job is competing for his own team in the World Rally Championship in Europe, crashed during his Cup test Tuesday at Virginia International Raceway. It didn’t give him much of a feel for whether to return to NASCAR to compete in the Cup event at Infineon Raceway next month.

“I just ran a bit wide and decided to go with the grass, but unfortunately there was a big hole or something in the grass so it destroyed the front end a bit,” Raikkonen said. “It was fun to drive it. … I probably ended up doing only 20 laps.

“We just put tires on the car. We didn’t do any changes. We didn’t have time. Like I said, it would be nice to go and do [that Cup race at Sonoma] but I don’t know if it is going to happen or not. I do this week and then I have to go back to do my Rally stuff and we’ll see if I come back.”

The original plan for Raikkonen, who has sponsorship from Perky Jerky and is being represented by the HMS Worldwide sports agency in his NASCAR effort, was to do three to five races for KBM in a truck. But team owner Kyle Busch said Friday that Raikkonen and his sponsors have only paid for the truck race last week and the Nationwide race.

“It's either up to Kimi or up to the financial people that run Kimi's business side of things and decide that they need to find the sponsorship funds in order to carry the experience for him further [with us],” Busch said.

Busch said he was pleased with Raikkonen’s debut last week – a 15th-place finish in the truck race.

“Certainly, he gave the truck a good ride,” Busch said. “It was really loose and he did a nice job with car control and everything else.”

Raikkonen said racing in traffic last week was fun and he enjoyed the NASCAR-style racing. He hopes that this weekend is a little easier for him.

“Once you do it once, you kno...

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KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN RETURNS TO NASCAR THIS WEEKEND FOR HIS DEBUT IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES AFTER A SUCCESSFUL PERFORMANCE IN THE CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

Perky Jerky Reveals Paint Scheme for Kimi Räikkönen’s No. 87 Toyota

DENVER, CO. (May 24, 2011) Perky Jerky, the ultra-premium jerky flavored with a hint of guarana that’s quickly gaining fame around the world, unveiled today the paint scheme set to adorn the No. 87 Toyota Nationwide Series race car that Kimi Räikkönen will race in his return to NASCAR this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This race will mark Räikkönen’s second NASCAR performance in as many weeks, with Perky Jerky as the primary sponsor.

On May 20th, Räikkönen made his first appearance in NASCAR when he competed in the Camping World Truck Series. Amidst a crush of media and international fans, the Finnish racer qualified 31st in the field and piloted his truck to complete the race in 15th position, an epic performance for his first time in a NASCAR truck and on a speedway. Räikkönen described his first NASCAR experience as “fun”, and commented that he’s looking forward to another NASCAR performance, where he can put his first education into practice.

The NEMCO-owned No. 87 Perky Jerky Toyota will be assembled, managed and fielded by Kyle Busch Motorsports on behalf of Perky Jerky.

“Last week, Kimi put on an incredibly impressive performance at Charlotte Motor Speedway by powering his Perky Jerky truck through half the pack”, said Brian Levin, Perky Jerky founder and chairman of the herd. “Now with one speedway race under his belt, the world will be watching as Kimi Räikkönen brings the No. 87 Perky Jerky Toyota to the finish line in first place.”

Already entrenched in NASCAR as the official and exclusive jerky of the Daytona 500, Perky Jerky has developed a marketing strategy that includes consumer sampling via Velcro suits, better known as the “jerk suit” and tasting opportunities via the “jerk bar”, a traveling sampling display, which has become a must-stop at many NASCAR events around the country.

Kimi Räikkönen’s first Nationwide Series appearance will be this Saturday, May 28th in the Top Gear 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The race will be broadcast live on ABC at 2:30 ET nationwide.

About Perky Jerky: Four years ago during a ski lift calamity, Perky Jerky’s founders spilled energy drink all over their stash of beef jerky. Stranded, hungry and 40-feet off the ground, they ate the soaked jerky and realized they were on to something. Three years in the kitchen and hundreds of homemade jerky recipes later, Perky Jerky was perfected and launched in 2009. In less than two years, Perky Jerky has quickly reached stratospheric levels of popularity amongst...

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Raikkonen expected to compete in next week's Nationwide race

CONCORD, N.C.—Kyle Busch fessed up.

His comments earlier Friday weren't the whole truth, when he said he wouldn't field a Nationwide car for Kimi Raikkonen next week.

Busch has been working on a deal that will put Raikkonen in a Toyota for the May 28 Nationwide race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In fact, the car is already at the Kyle Busch Motorsports shop.

"I don't own it," Busch said with a sly smile after winning Friday night's North Carolina Education Lottery 200 Camping World Truck Series race at Charlotte.

Who does own it, Busch wouldn't reveal, after admitting the car was a Toyota.

In his first news conference with NASCAR reporters, Raikkonen mentioned that he expected to drive in the Nationwide race at Charlotte. When asked about it, Busch was circumspect.

"We don't have a Nationwide Series license (at Kyle Busch Motorsports), and our crew guys aren't licensed for the Nationwide Series or anything," Busch said. "It would have to be with somebody else."

Clever, but the not whole story, as it turned out. Accordingly, you can expect to see Raikkonen behind the wheel of a Toyota on May 28—in a car to be named later.

When asked if he was running the Nationwide race, Raikkonen said, "We'll see," after finishing 15th in Friday night's truck series race at Charlotte—his NASCAR debut.

Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nascar/stor ... z1MzImOhtF





Raikkonen doesn't take no for an answer

CONCORD, N.C.—So how does a Finnish former Formula One champion wind up driving in a trucks race at Charlotte Motor Speedway? He has his agent call and ask—and not take no for an answer.

Kimi Raikkonen, the 2007 F1 champion, makes his NASCAR debut tonight in the Camping World Truck Series in a vehicle prepared by Kyle Busch Motorsports. Raikkonen’s agent called Rick Ren, general manager of KBM. The agent at first wouldn’t even reveal Raikkonen’s name.

Busch recounted how the deal went down:

“We told them the cost of what it took to run them and they said, ‘OK, talk to you later.’ They worked it out on their side I guess where they felt like that was an OK price to pay, called us back and said, ‘OK, we’re going to do this, we want to do Charlotte.’ We said, ‘Oh, Charlotte’s already taken, can you pick another one?’ They were like, ‘No, can’t pick another one, you have to run a second truck.’ So we were like, ‘We don’t have a second truck.’ So we talked to Vision Airlines, and asked if we could supply them a truck, and they could run the race for us.”

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TRUCKS: Much Anticipation Surrounding Raikkonen Debut

History will be made as Kimi Raikkonen becomes the first F1 champion to race at Charlotte Motor Speedway...

Posted May 11, 2011 | Concord, NC

Fans in attendance at the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 will have a chance to witness history as 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Raikkonen will make his NASCAR debut, May 20, at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race will mark the first time in the speedway's 52-year history that a former champion from Formula One, arguably the top open-wheeled series in the world, will compete in a NASCAR event.

The 31-year-old Finnish driver follows in the footsteps of world champions Mario Andretti, Jimmy Clark and Jacques Villeneuve as the only Formula One champions to ever make the transition to NASCAR.

While Andretti competed at Charlotte Motor Speedway, it was 11 years before he captured the Formula One crown in 1978. Villeneuve won the title in 1997, then went on to compete in 13 NASCAR races across the top three national touring series, but never tested his skills at Charlotte. Clark won two championships in 1963 and 1965, but only made the trip over to the United States for one race at Rockingham Speedway in 1967.

Raikkonen, who is considered to be one of the top drivers in the world, left Formula One and the iconic Ferrari factory team after the 2009 season and has been competing in the World Rally Championship since that time. Now he has teamed up with one of the hottest drivers in NASCAR, Kyle Busch, at Kyle Busch Motorsports.

"We're honored that Kimi has chosen to start his career in NASCAR with us," Busch said earlier this year. "Adding one of the most talented drivers in the world is a continuation of building a team of proven winners and champions at KBM."

Adding to the intrigue of the international star coming over from Europe is the fact that he hand-picked Charlotte Motor Speedway for his first race.

"He was adamant about Charlotte and running that race. It will be good for him to get his feet wet," said Busch.

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25 days to Räikkönen's big bang

Turun Sanomat 25.4 2011 21:37:20

Kimi Räikkönen's 'big bang' in the States and elsewhere in motorsporting world, due to his Nascar-debut will be seen in 25 days in Charlotte, North-Carolina.

Camping World Truck -serie's 7th race along with qualification will be held on Friday 20th May. Charlotte Motor Speedway is a 1,5 mile long so called square oval.

On Saturday they will drive for a million dollar prize in all star Sprint Cup -race, where only the established stars in the serie have been invited to.

Räikkönen's ICE1 Racing -team will lease a car from Kyle Busch Motorsports. Kyle Busch himself won the Truck-season during the weekend in Nashville.

Nelson Piquet junior came in 2nd. It was the Brazilian's first podium on Nascar-level and his all time best result in the three main series.

So far they are still only building up Räikkönen's schedule. On top of Charlotte's races we might see Kimi in at least two Nascar-races on normal racing arenas.

Räikkönen's next WRC-rally is in Greece from where he immediately leaves to California.

Räikkönen spent the weekend with his own motocross-team as a mechanic and supporter in Holland's second race of the season. Kimi participated with enthusiasm in the maintenance of the bikes.

Mark Arnall hasn't yet made any special programs for his driver's Nascar-challenges.

– In tests Kimi drove a couple of hundred laps on an oval per day. They turn into the same direction there all the time and in theory the strain on certain muscles is different than for example in rally. The faster you go, the more harder it is on the neck muscles, Arnall thinks.

– In tests Kimi drove about 20 lap stints. I massaged the muscles in the evening. The neck was a bit stiff but I can't say if it was because of the driving strain or something else.

– Let's just wait for the first races. Then they drive 300-400 laps flat out and we will see if something special is required when it comes to the muscles. I think it's the same as it was when starting the season in a F1-car, the more you drive the better your muscles get used to it.

Arnall can't use any expertise-help since on Nascar-level the drivers don't have a personal trainer to help them.

Kaj Lindström doesn't believe that combining two very different genres would in any way mess up the performance level in either way.

– There's nothing wondrous about that. Kimi has planned his Nascar-job so that it won't interfere with our rallies. It didn't come to me as any surprise. You have to try out everything when you get the chance and they have been asking him the...

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More news about new Kimi's experience in Nascar here
by Kimi Raikkonen Forum staff

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Kimi to combine WRC with NASCAR for 2011

The Kimi Raikkonen to NASCAR story is now no April Fool's joke. On Saturday Kyle Busch Motorsports, a Camping World Truck Series team announced that it had signed the 2007 Formula One World Champion to a limited schedule.

"I am really excited to have the opportunity to start my venture into NASCAR with Kyle Busch Motorsports," said Kimi in a statement issued by the team Saturday morning.

"Kyle is one of the best in NASCAR, and being able to draw on his knowledge will be a valuable asset as I make my transition to a new form of racing. He has put together an experienced team that builds fast race trucks.

"I look forward to being a part of a team that has proven to be a winner on and off the race track."

The 25-year old Busch, who also drives in all three of NASCARs top-level series, said: "We are honored that Kimi Raikkonen, a former Formula 1 World Drivers' Champion and proven winner, has chosen to start his career in NASCAR with Kyle Busch Motorsports."

"Adding one of the most talented drivers in the world is a continuation of building a team of proven winners and champions at KBM. I look forward to assisting in Kimi's transition to NASCAR as both an owner and teammate."

NASCAR previously announced that the Finnish driver was cleared to make his debut at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 20th and that has been confirmed in the press release. Raikkonen will test on Monday at Gresham Motorsports Park, a half-mile oval in Georgia.

"We're now going to get him some laps in a truck and see him in Charlotte," Busch said in a television interview just before qualifying in Martinsville on Saturday morning.
Source: Kimi's official website

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