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Sprint Cup
CUP: Two New Faces In NASCAR
Former Formula One ace Kimi Raikkonen tries his hand at Sprint Cup while 19-year-old Cole Whitt is the youngest to ever lead Camping World Truck Series standings.
F1 champ Kimi Raikkonen has had a fairly uneven week driving Sprint Cup at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
A former Formula One world champion and a young driver who many expect to be winning for a long time in the NASCAR ranks shared common ground Saturday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Each made his Charlotte debut in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. And each experienced a little of the frustration that battling an ill-handling car can offer a driver.
For Kimi Raikkonen, an F1 champ testing the NASCAR waters, and Cole Whitt, at 19 the youngest to ever lead the Camping World Truck Series standings, Saturday was a lengthy, hot day. It was also a learning experience and a race in which they both gained knowledge about handling the cars in this series.
Whitt is just trying to gain some ground and experience, to methodically work his way through the ranks. In his third career Nationwide Series race Saturday he ran in the top 10 at times before finishing 15th, a solid and respectable run in his debut.
Raikkonen’s exact plans are a subject of speculation, but he raced through setbacks — he brushed the wall, he ran over someone else’s front splitter that was laying on the track, he was penalized for speeding on exit to pit road — and finished 27th.
Raikkonen drove a Nemco Motorsports entry that was prepared by Kyle Busch Motorsports. After the race, KBM general manager Rick Ren also addressed Raikkonen’s outing. The driver made his NASCAR debut a week ago, driving a KBM entry in the Truck race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Saturday, he battled a series of problems, with the heat perhaps being the most distracting.
“The floor got really hot under the seat,” he said. “I don’t know why the car was so hot inside. It was hurting on the heels, but I couldn’t really do anything. Just tried to keep my foot off the floor and just hold them up.”
That, combined with the setbacks of the day, certainly hampered his enjoyment of the 300-mile race.
Asked if he enjoyed racing in the series, Raikkonen pointed that out.
“In the beginning, yes, but the car was getting more and more difficult,” he said. “It was nice in the beginning, and I could overtake on the restart and the car felt really good. It really turned out to be a really bad day with the handling just because I couldn’t get the car to turn and had to almost stop in the corners because it was pushing all the time. The same thing happened in the first and second practice and then we could improve it in the second practice, but somehow something is not right.”
Ren said the team had the car set up in a way that would be easy for Raikkonen to adjust to in the opening segment of the race, then it had the setbacks.
“We had him coming around real good, we were up to 16th at one time — we were holding our own there in 17th-19th spot and we got a speeding penalty,” Ren said. “That kinda gets you in trouble. NASCAR does a great job, but how does an orange splitter (end up) laying in the racetrack and we hit it?”
Each made his Charlotte debut in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. And each experienced a little of the frustration that battling an ill-handling car can offer a driver.
For Kimi Raikkonen, an F1 champ testing the NASCAR waters, and Cole Whitt, at 19 the youngest to ever lead the Camping World Truck Series standings, Saturday was a lengthy, hot day. It was also a learning experience and a race in which they both gained knowledge about handling the cars in this series.
Whitt is just trying to gain some ground and experience, to methodically work his way through the ranks. In his third career Nationwide Series race Saturday he ran in the top 10 at times before finishing 15th, a solid and respectable run in his debut.
Raikkonen’s exact plans are a subject of speculation, but he raced through setbacks — he brushed the wall, he ran over someone else’s front splitter that was laying on the track, he was penalized for speeding on exit to pit road — and finished 27th.
Raikkonen drove a Nemco Motorsports entry that was prepared by Kyle Busch Motorsports. After the race, KBM general manager Rick Ren also addressed Raikkonen’s outing. The driver made his NASCAR debut a week ago, driving a KBM entry in the Truck race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Saturday, he battled a series of problems, with the heat perhaps being the most distracting.
“The floor got really hot under the seat,” he said. “I don’t know why the car was so hot inside. It was hurting on the heels, but I couldn’t really do anything. Just tried to keep my foot off the floor and just hold them up.”
That, combined with the setbacks of the day, certainly hampered his enjoyment of the 300-mile race.
Asked if he enjoyed racing in the series, Raikkonen pointed that out.
“In the beginning, yes, but the car was getting more and more difficult,” he said. “It was nice in the beginning, and I could overtake on the restart and the car felt really good. It really turned out to be a really bad day with the handling just because I couldn’t get the car to turn and had to almost stop in the corners because it was pushing all the time. The same thing happened in the first and second practice and then we could improve it in the second practice, but somehow something is not right.”
Ren said the team had the car set up in a way that would be easy for Raikkonen to adjust to in the opening segment of the race, then it had the setbacks.
“We had him coming around real good, we were up to 16th at one time — we were holding our own there in 17th-19th spot and we got a speeding penalty,” Ren said. “That kinda gets you in trouble. NASCAR does a great job, but how does an orange splitter (end up) laying in the racetrack and we hit it?”
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