Former Formula One 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen, the monosyllabic Finnish racer whose talents behind the wheel have never been debated, had a less-than-satisfactory debut in NASCAR’s Cup Series competition this past weekend.
Racing in the 2022 Go Bowling at the Glen Cup Series race on the Watkins Glen International road course, the penultimate Cup Series race before playoffs begin, Raikkonen had little practice, one qualifying attempt, used his racing in the rain wiles but was stopped by a crash around the halfway mark of this 90-lap contest, completed with Hendrick Motorsports’ surging Kyle Larson in Victory Lane.
Raikkonen had all of 20 minutes to learn the track and No. 91 car in practice, ten laps to qualify and then had to deal with weather oscillations in an unfamiliar car with unfamiliar competition surrounding him. At least he had knowledge of the race track!
After qualifying, the Finn said he’d wished for more laps to practice. “I felt like there was a lot of potential but I’m just not sure which lines to take, and there weren’t enough laps to put everything together,” he said on Saturday afternoon.
Raikkonen qualified 27th in the 39-car field and ran as high as eighth in the second of three stages. He had his first experience using Goodyear rain tires on his Chevrolet Camaro before switching to dry rubber on the 12th lap of the race’s first stage, where he finished 19th. He started the second stage in 10th and stayed in that rarified group before pitting in the second stage’s last laps.
Restarting in 22nd to start the third and final stage of Sunday’s race, Raikkonen’s No. 91 Trackhouse Chevy was pushed into the barrier by both his teammate Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Camaro and by Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Camaro. He suffered contact as cars spun, slowed and the 21-time F1 winner couldn’t avoid the No. 27 Ford Mustang of Loris Hezemans, sending him into the outside tire barrier of the inner loop at Watkins Glen International.
“I had a good line there but everybody seemed to come to the left, unfortunately,” Raikkonen said. “I had no time to react. The first impact, somebody hit the tire or the wheel and the wheel spun and something’s wrong with the wrist, but that’s how it goes,” he explained.
Trackhouse Racing’s PROJECT91, meant to introduce international drivers to NASCAR, allowed Raikkonen the opportunity to sample NASCAR’s Cup Series for the first time. He has raced in NASCAR’s two other national touring series, the Truck Series and Xfinity Series for Kyle Busch Racing in 2011, both of those being one-off entries.
While unable to complete the 90-lap event, the driver was pleased to be able to compete at a high level in a new type of competition, now that he’s retired from F1. He was able to learn quite a bit, despite being sidelined early in the third stage of the race.
What did he like? “I think, everything. Everything is new and I got the full service with the rain and everything… “ he said. While he wasn’t able to finish, Raikkonen learned about the pit stops and tire life. “I felt that we had very good speed and, especially after the pit stops, but maybe I was a bit too harsh on the tires on the one of the sets,” he mused.
Crew chief Darian Grubb was pleased with his new driver. “He was learning every lap. You could see how he was racing those guys, how he was able to learn their styles, where they were fast, where they were slow. And he was able to maintain really well with them, so he’s obviously a very quick study,” Grubb said.
“He worked so hard trying to get ready for this. It’s really disappointing to end that way. The way the strategy scenario was working, I think he was gonna have a good chance to go race hard with guys. I think we had a good shot to be up in the top 10, which is what our goals were for the weekend,” Grubb concluded.
Raikkonen felt it was “good fun. I felt more confident all of the time. We had some good laps. It’s a shame. The car felt like it had a lot of speed, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
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