NASCAR: Q & A with Kimi Räikkönen

Former Formula One world champion and current World Rally Championship driver Kimi Räikkönen on Friday met with reporters at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he will make his NASCAR debut on Friday night in the Camping World Truck Series. Here's what the "Iceman" had to say

Question: What attracted you to NASCAR?
Kimi Räikkönen: Hi everybody.

What brings me here? I think it's many, many different reasons for that. Since I stopped in Formula One, my interests have always been in many different motorsports. I want to try different things and this wasn't the first time that I have been offered to come here. I had a good time to come and see how it is and learn and try to get better in it. That's really the only reason that I came. I was interested to see how it is and how it feels and how it is racing in NASCAR.

Q: Where do you expect to go with this NASCAR experience?
KR: I don't really know. I don't have big plans--I don't have any plans for next year or anything of what I do. I see how it is because I didn't have any expectations when I came here. It's a bit like when I went to rally. I didn't have much expectation. I wanted to see how it is. It's the same story here.

For sure, it's a different sport. Different type of racing than what we have in Europe. It's very popular here and maybe it looks easy, but it's not so easy to be fast. We'll see how it goes and what the future will bring. We go step-by-step and see what happens.

Q: What has been the biggest challenge in driving the trucks?
KR: I think from Formula One to rally was a big, big difference. I think from the rally, coming here is kind of not such a difficult thing than it was from Formula One to rally. I'm still learning, I haven't driven--the first time today here. Wasn't very good day, but we have to start from somewhere. Improve hopefully in qualifying and in the race we can do a bit better.

Of course there's a lot of things to know what you want from the car. It looks quite similar, the circuits here, but it's not. You have to learn all the best things on every circuit and what you can do and the best lines. That really comes with the knowledge and experience. We try to survive through the day and try to do the best that we can and hopefully we are much more smarter and we know more things after that.

Q: Did you practice in traffic today?
KR: Not so much. . . . I hoped to have a little bit more during the practice, but the handling of the car was not what I wanted and at the end it was a bit better. I'm still not happy, but it would be nice to still have some more practice. It is what it is and it will be interesting to see how it goes in the race because that is really the first time now that you have some cars beside you and you can go and overtake some guys. It is a different thing once we go all together in the start and the first laps. We have to learn it and hopefully it goes smoothly.


Q: Will you ever return to F1?
KR: There was many reasons why I stopped. I don't know if it's set or if it's going to be forever. Right now and after that I wasn't really missing Formula One. I wanted to try other things and I had the perfect opportunity to go and do rally and learn that.

Now I had time to come here and see how the NASCAR is. I'm happy how things pan out. I never really have said that I am never going to go back. Maybe I will never go or maybe I go. Only the future will tell. Like I said before, I have no plans for next year. I didn't really have any plans for this year before January. It might take some time to know exactly what I will do.

Q: What was the atmosphere like in the garage for you this morning?
KR: It's been very much what I expected really because I've seen one race at the end of last year at Miami. I knew kind of how it looks at least. I think it's a good team for me to come and work with my own racing team. Like I said, they try to help you as much as they can, but it's quite difficult to tell you how to drive because you don't know how to drive the car and people come tell you and try to teach you, but it probably will never be very good results.

People are nice and they try to help wherever they can. So far it's been good and today I wanted to be a bit better. So far, at least we really didn't destroy anything.

Q: What is more fun to drive, rally car or the NASCAR truck?
KR: Completely different things. In here you have a few corners in it, but I think the whole thing changes once the race starts when you have all the 40 cars or something at the same time on a circuit, so it's a different story than in practice. OK, sometimes you have people overtake you, overtake some people, but once you run side-by-side for many laps it's a different story.

In rally you have everything: you have snow, gravel , tarmac, every corner is different. You're in the middle of the forest usually, so you cannot really compare. The feeling sometimes is a bit similar, at least it helps to know when the car goes sideways that there is really no need for panic and it's pretty normal in rally, but it's a big difference between those two sport.

Q: Have you been surprised how friendly people are in NASCAR?
KR: I'm not really surprised. I think that the whole feeling in NASCAR comparing to many other sports is different. Comparing to Formula One, it is definitely more relaxed and more open here. Rally is so, so much more open and more kind of friendly feeling, so this is more like that, I mean pretty similar. And for sure in Formula One things run slightly different way. But that's how they want to do it.

I mean [my old McLaren F1 teammate Juan Pablo Montoya] was nice to see. I haven't seen him in for a long time. I've seen some results from what he has done, but it is not very easy to follow well in Europe so it's not often that you see them on TV. It's really from stuff like that.

Q: Is NASCAR full-time an option for you or would you consider doing this part time and going back to rally cars?
KR: I mean, I have always planned to do the rally this year so this is really when I have time, but the NASCAR I wanted to see how it is, how it feels, how I do here. So I mean if I completely suck here, there's probably no reason to come back, but hopefully it goes better than today. I mean, I don't know yet. Like I said, we go day-by-day and see how it goes and what comes in the future it comes.

Like I said, I have no plans for next year so it's too early to think about it.

Q: What are your future NASCAR plans?
KR: This weekend and then hopefully next week here [also at Charlotte] and then after that there's no really big plans yet, so hopefully I can get to run some Cup races. That would be nice. But there's not an awful lot of planning done and I really don't want to hurry up in a situation and try to do the best now and see what happens.

Q: Have you found communication with the team difficult?
KR: Yeah, I mean we tested and I felt how I'm used to and they told what they are used to hear and we found a good solution. And of course sometimes I tell in a way that we used to do in rally or Formula One, but it's not so much different that we don't understand each other. I mean, of course there's lot to learn during the race if you want some changes and to make it most easiest to explain what I need to him, but I think that's why we're here--to try to learn the things and do the best that we can.

Source: AutoWeek

TRUCKS: Räikkönen Has ‘Fun’ In NASCAR Debut

Kimi Räikkönen finished 15th in his first Camping World Truck Series start...

Kimi Räikkönen had more fun than he expected in his Camping World Truck Series debut.

Finishing 15th wasn’t the fun part for a driver who has 18 Formula One wins as well as the 2007 Formula One championship trophy, but from where he started his day Friday, Räikkönen seemed satisfied following the N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Raikkonen, who struggled in practice and started 31st in the 36-truck field, actually scrubbed the wall twice during the race but avoided the carnage in a race that had 10 cautions.

“The racing was fun,” Raikkonen said. “[There were] too many cautions. Every time when I feel the car starts to work better then you have a caution and it takes a long time before the handling comes back.”

The 32-year-old Finnish driver said “we’ll see” when asked if he would run the Nationwide Series race next week. No deal is done but Kyle Busch said he has a Nationwide car at his shop.

“It is much easier once you do one race because you learn on restarts as to where you should go and stuff like that,” said Raikkonen. “It actually was more fun than I expected.

“I was OK once I knew the car was fine. It was much better than it was this morning. … I’d rather be more higher [at the finish].”

Raikkonen actually caught a break when he made a mistake when he missed pit road early in the race. But that actually allowed him to restart ninth and then a caution came out when team owner Kyle Busch spun right when Raikkonen had to pit for fuel.

That allowed him to keep decent track position and race in the mid-teens throughout the remainder of the event.

“There was too much talking going on on the radio,” said crew chief Rick Ren, who also is the general manager of Kyle Busch Motorsports. “I wanted to pit but everybody was on the radio. I’ve had experienced Cup guys do the same thing. It was no big deal.”

Raikkonen said he wasn’t too surprised by any event.

“It’s not really one thing,” Raikkonen said. “It’s just more to know what to do on restarts and where to put the car and sometimes you push a bit too hard and you run wide and then you lose places and it’s hard to get back to places.

“It’s more to really knowing where to be in the right position, but not anything real surprising.”

Ren said he was most impressed with Raikkonen on the restarts.

“What impressed me more than anything was restarts – he didn’t spin the tires and was pushing people,” Ren said. “I am wondering if F1 cars, they put down so much power that he’s got a really good feel for when the tires are slipping.”

Raikkonen said he wasn’t used to a one-day show that the trucks had with practice in the morning, qualifying in the afternoon and the race at night.


Kimi Raikkonen hits the track at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He said he enjoyed his first NASCAR experience.

“Everybody has been very nice and very welcome so it is a nice atmosphere, very relaxed – it’s been good,” Raikkonen said.

Ren said Raikkonen’s next step will be up to him.

“It’s going to be up to him,” Ren said. “I think his first hit on NASCAR was probably pleasant compared to what it could be.

“The media stuff I hear went good today. The race went well for him.”

Source: NascarSpeedTv
Courtesy: Kriss

TRUCKS: Räikkönen Prepping For NASCAR Debut

Kyle Busch Motorsports officials are confident that Kimi Räikkönen is ready to compete in the Camping World Truck Series...

Kimi Räikkönen has not been sitting idle since it was announced on April 2 that he would compete in the No. 15 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra in Friday’s N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

After the 31-year-old former Formula One champion performed a two-day test last month at Gresham Motorsports Park followed by a half-day test Rockingham, KBM officials felt confident that Räikkönen would be ready to compete in the Camping World Truck Series.

“He did a tremendous job,” said crew chief Eric Phillips. “It took him an hour or two at Gresham to get up to speed but when we got to Rockingham, after four laps he was faster than when we’d been there testing with Brian (Ickler) or Taylor (Malsam) last year. So me and Rick (KBM General Manager) were really impressed.”

During last month’s tests, the team worked with chassis adjustments, various shock packages and air pressure changes as the driver acclimated to the truck first on the half-mile track and then at the 1.017-mile speedway at the Rock.

“It was a lot of fun, I really had no expectations or anything to compare it to beforehand but at the end of the day, I am really looking forward to the first race,” said Raikkonen in a team release. “It seems like KBM is a top team and I am excited to work with them.”

KBM also sent Räikkönen additional materials, including videos of earlier races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, to expedite his learning curve in a truck.

“I believe we also sent him a few in-car cameras so he can watch and get used to listening how throttle control was, how much you’re on the gas, how to race people and sometimes what happens when you’re side by side with guys,” Kyle Busch said. “I think I won the truck race there last year and the year before (Ron) Hornaday and I battled it out and we ended up spinning or something. He’ll get a good view of what to expect ... with some in-car camera stuff.

“When he gets back to the States, he’ll go over the NASCAR R&D Center and sit down with those guys and get an explanation of the drivers’ meeting -- the long version of the drivers meeting, the one that tells you all about double file, passing the pace on the wave around, the long version so he can get an idea of how everything works. That’s pretty much it.”

While it was the hope that Räikkönen would visit the NASCAR R&D Center, his schedule might not permit it. NASCAR senior director of communications for competition Kerry Tharp said the sanctioning body was simply extending an invitation and there was nothing required of the driver before the race.

Although there are 43 entries for the truck race and only 36 positions, Busch said driving the truck “is pretty simple, like anything else.” Busch should know. He won the race from the pole last year in his own equipment. It was Busch’s third win and third pole in a truck at Charlotte.

“As far as the truck goes, it’s like any of the other trucks that we have,” Busch said. “We had one in the stable and we’ve been working on it for two months now, probably, ever since we’ve known. We’ve been fine-tuning on it and getting ready along with my truck for Charlotte.”

Source: FOXSports.com - Speedtv

Räikkönen's debut Truck livery unveiled

Perky Jerky have unveiled the livery that will adorn the side of Kimi Räikkönen's NASCAR Truck for his series début on Friday, which will be shown live on satellite in the UK

The livery for Kimi Räikkönen's ride in his début appearance in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in Charlotte, North Carolina had been unveiled by his sponsor, snack food manufacturer Perky Jerky.

The black and orange flame-themed design also sports decals from two dozen subsidiary sponsors, as is usually the case on NASCAR vehicles. The original press release announcing the deal noted that "Perky Jerky joins the likes of Tag Heuer, Oakley and Alpine Stars as a sponsor of Raikkonen's quest for dominance in yet another motorsport, as he heads across the pond to test the waters of NASCAR."

It's not known how much money Perky Jerky are paying Raikkonen's team - Kyle Busch Motorsports - for their first foray into NASCAR, but any company expecting to put their name and brand onto the vehicle and firesuit of a former F1 world champion can't expect it to come cheap. However, it should be worth the money for the international exposure that Raikkonen's début is expected to get - provided he makes it in to the race via qualifying.

Last week's American TV viewing figures topped one million viewers, up 26% year-on-year and the highest-rated Trucks race from the Monster Mile since 2006. Interest was driven by the feud between Sprint Cup drivers Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, both of whom were appearing in the Truck race which threatened a resumption of hostilities.

That boost in ratings provides excellent momentum for this week's coverage of the Charlotte Motor Speedway race and Raikkonen's début in the world of US stock car racing, and coverage will also be available in the UK.

Irish satellite broadcaster Premier Sports TV announced Wednesday that they were going to be broadcasting the Truck Series event live and free-to-air on Sky channel 433 from 1am early on Saturday morning, in a one-off deal that's believed to be the first major coverage of the Trucks Series in the UK.

"We had a lot of request from fans asking for this race and it made sense to come to an agreement with NASCAR," said channel spokesman Richard Webb. Premier already air the weekly Sprint Cup races on a subscription pay-for basis and recently confirmed that the deal had been extended to the end of 2012.

Premier Sports TV is presently only available on the Sky platform, and cannot currently be received on Virgin Media, BT Vision or Freeview/Freesat services.

However, fans may be left disappointed if Raikkonen doesn't actually appear, which is possible because he first has to qualify for the race itself. With 45 entries for the race and Truck races limited to 36 starting grid positions, it won't be an easy matter or foregone conclusion for him to get through in his first time at a NASCAR event. NASCAR 'pre-qualifies' some entrants based on owner points, but Raikkonen's truck is not among those guaranteed to start the race.

Despite the involvement of Perky Jerky, it's still believed that Raikkonen is a "pay driver" for these initial races and may even be paying up to $100,000 of his own money to fund his first steps into NASCAR as well as bringing in those high value personal sponsors to the Kyle Busch Motorsport team.

Entering NASCAR as Raikkonen's primary sponsor, Perky Jerky is a producer of "the new high-protein, ultra-premium, functional food for active lifestyles taking the nation by storm", according to their website; or, strips of beef marinaded in sports drink before being dried/smoked to be eaten, a particularly American line of snack food that is still only a niche product in the UK.

Source: Crash.net

Auton takes Räikkönen's adjustment personally

Series director knows his role is to make sure rookie is comfortable at Charlotte

There may be only a handful of active drivers in the world with a resume as impressive as 2007 Formula One champion Kimi Räikkönen. But when Räikkönen walks into the garage area at Charlotte Motor Speedway this weekend, it's as a Camping World Truck Series rookie.

And for series director Wayne Auton, that means making Räikkönen feel at home.

"We're fortunate enough to have such a great series that we have a competitor like Kimi Räikkönen want to come and compete in Trucks," Auton said. "The one thing we will do for him, just like any other driver, is bring him in, set him down, talk to him, explain to him some NASCAR ways, and mostly make him feel comfortable. Most rookies who come in here don't set the world on fire right off the bat. As the series director, that's part of my job [to explain things].

"And then we go into things like, 'Here's how this race track races compares to other race tracks that you've raced at. You may have been here before, but this turn's a little different. You want to run high here, you want to run low here.' It's our job to make sure they feel comfortable, No. 1."

And that's as much about what's going on off the track as much as it is getting strapped in and making laps, Auton said.

"We bring them in and say, 'Here's when the meetings are. Here's the papers you've got to sign. Here's where the drivers meeting location is and by the way, you've got to go to the rookie meeting or you miss practice. You've got to be at the drivers meeting or you go to the rear. You've got to be at driver introductions in uniform, ready to go,' " he said.

Räikkönen, who won 18 F1 races over eight seasons, was impressive enough during testing sessions to land a ride with Kyle Busch's Truck team this season, beginning with Friday's 200-miler at Charlotte. Even though he's run more than a dozen World Rally Championship races, Auton said stock cars should present a different challenge to Raikkonen.

"I think the biggest thing he's going to have to get used to is he's used to open-wheel, open-cockpit (cars)," Auton said. "Now he's going to have a roof over his head and windows around him. And oh, by the way, there's going to be 35 other competitors -- and no disrespect to any other racing series, but these guys are usually side by side for 200 miles, 250 miles, whatever we race."

Auton said all rookies go through a learning curve, particularly when it comes to knowing the changes in downforce when another truck is racing close to your right rear bumper at high speeds.

"I think that's going to be his hardest adjustment: What does it feel like, especially for somebody in the Truck Series, when somebody's on that right side," Auton said. "Because if you don't know what it feels like, it will pull you around. And I don't care how great a driver you are.

"We've seen it happen to our two-time champion, Todd Bodine, at Kansas Speedway last year. A truck came up on the right side and off he went. And you can't sit here and tell anybody that. They've got to get that feel for it on the race track.

"Kimi Räikkönen is used to having someone on that right side, but it's not pulling that vehicle and tugging on it. Ricky Carmichael, when he came in, he had that experience but when he got here, he'll tell you it was the hardest thing he ever did, especially when you get to these faster race tracks."

The majority of Räikkönen's racing experience has come in high horsepower-to-weight ratio, high downforce vehicles. Because of that, Auton said his decision to try the Truck Series first was a smart move.

"The good thing about Kimi coming to trucks is -- of all of our NASCAR national series -- the Truck Series has the most downforce, but it's also the draggiest," Auton said. "So it sort of offsets.

"How does it plant when you go in? Where do you let off to actually make the truck turn itself without fighting it? Do I get on the brakes here? For him coming from a vehicle with the tons of downforce that they have, it's probably going to be a lot less than he's used to but it's a lot more than what it would be if he was in a Nationwide or a Cup car."

Auton said Charlotte should certainly provide an adequate challenge for the driver nicknamed "the Iceman." Even though Räikkönen is a world-class driver, it'll be his first time on a track that has befuddled the best, so having a mentor is a huge assist.

"I'll get another driver to go over and watch them on the race track and then while they're out there is run maybe behind them for a little bit," Auton said. "The first thing we'll tell Kimi to do when he comes into Charlotte is get out there and follow somebody for a little bit and learn the line of the race track, No. 1.

"Learning the line is probably the hardest thing that a rookie can do. Kimi's coming into a race track that's so track sensitive that one lap, it'll be this and the next lap, it's something totally different."

Source: Nascar.com
Courtesy: miezicat

Keep working at it, Montoya tells Kimi Räikkönen

Just days before Kimi Räikkönen makes his NASCAR debut in the Camping World Truck Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, Juan Montoya offers some words of advice

The news of Kimi Räikkönen's try-out in NASCAR in the Camping World Truck Series first broke almost two months ago: and even after all this time, it still sounds like a bit of a huge April Fool's Day joke.

But on Friday, May 20 it becomes a reality as 2007 F1 world champion Kimi Räikkönen heads out onto Charlotte Motor Speedway to make his NASCAR series debut with the Kyle Busch Motorsports team.

The one current NASCAR Sprint Cup driver who has any idea of what's in store for Räikkönen is the driver who made a similar transition from the glamorous world of F1 to the more down-to-earth scene of American stock car racing - his former McLaren team mate Juan Pablo Montoya.

So what advice can the Colombian offer the new arrival from Finland?

"Keep working at it and listen to the advice people give you," says Montoya. "Ask questions and spend as much time behind the wheel, getting seat time, as you can."

Montoya knows what he's talking about: NASCAR hasn't come easy for him since he arrived in the series in 2007 after becoming disenchanted with the world of F1. He won the Sonoma road race in his rookie year and has since had three top-five and six top-10 finishes, and even become the first non-American to make it into the Chase at the end of the 2009 regular season. But oval victories and a Sprint Cup title still seem very far off for him.

"It'll be a tough transition but if he dedicates his time to [NASCAR], he should be okay," said Montoya. "He'll adjust after some time ... It's a big transition all around and just one of those things he'll need to get used to.

"He's a great race car driver but he'll need to learn to take care of his equipment in NASCAR. I know he likes to drive his cars hard and you can't do that over here."

Despite the fact that Montoya and Räikkönen entered F1 in the same year - 2001 - they came from very different backgrounds even then. Montoya had battled his way up through the US racing scene and won the Indy 500 race and the CART series title before moving to F1 as a very proven winner; Räikkönen on the other hand emerged out of nowhere, a karting star with unproven senior formula experience who needed special dispensation from the FIA to get a super-license to join Sauber. Within a year he had made a splash on the track and been snapped up by McLaren as "the next big thing", duly going on to win the world title with Ferrari in 2007 - something Montoya himself never did.

So what does Montoya think about Räikkönen's decision to try his hand at NASCAR Trucks?

"I think that it's cool that he's coming over to NASCAR. He's a cool guy and I think he will fit right in," he says, before offering a word of caution. "[But] my first choice wouldn't have been Charlotte [for a debut.] That's a tough track in general. I would've picked Talladega or Daytona before Charlotte."

Räikkönen will be under pressure straight away at Charlotte, with qualification carrying with it the potential for a very embarrassing public failure.

The news about Kimi's switch to NASCAR still leaves experienced motor sports journalists shaking their heads in wonder, not least because the US scene is notorious for the amount of media work required of its drivers who become almost full time corporate spokespeople for their sponsors.

"Both [Montoya and Räikkönen] suffer from lockjaw when it comes to the press, and neither is a fun interview," said Bob Varsha, longtime voice of F1 on the US sports channel SPEED, commenting on his scepticism about Räikkönen's decision to come to NASCAR. "I still find it odd, because he is such a reserved guy and hated dealing with the press in F1. That supposedly was one of his motivations for leaving the sport after winning the world championship.

"If Kimi knows anything about NASCAR, he knows NASCAR drivers are almost compelled to be gregarious, fan-friendly, work with the press and so on, which is completely unlike the Kimi those of us who have been involved with his career in F1 know."

One thing that's perceived to have held Montoya back in NASCAR is his difficulty in "playing nicely with others", as the sport often relies on on- and off-track alliances and partnerships. Montoya's still seen as very much something of a lone wolf, and Raikkonen could find himself in a similar situation.

"He was nicknamed 'Ice Man' when he raced in F1 so if that tells you anything!" laughs Montoya.

"Both are recognised as being incredibly brave and fast, said SPEED's Varsha. "But the key with both men is that neither enjoyed a reputation as either a team player or a technically astute driver ... If the car works as they need it to, they succeed. If it doesn't, working with the engineers to make it better was never something that seemed to interest them."

In the meantime, Kimi has been busy making sure that his "day job" over in the World Rally Championship doesn't feel unloved and unwanted by all the attention buzzing around his NASCAR debut.

"I wouldn't be doing any of the racing if it clashed with anything which I'm doing in the WRC," he emphasised to the WRC series website. "The races have been picked because they fit around the rallies I'm doing. It doesn't matter where I am when I'm not on the rallies."

Räikkönen, who recently finished sixth on Rally Jordan, says he's looking forward to his next WRC appearance, at the Acropolis Rally of Greece from 16-19 June. "The driving has been better and we're pushing harder now. My only target really is to improve in the WRC."

Meanwhile it looks like Räikkönen's NASCAR excursion might be starting a trend. His Finnish compatriot Mika Salo has reportedly told the Turun Sanomat (the same paper that broke the story of Kimi heading Stateside in March) newspaper that he's also set to try his hand at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

"This year it is finally happening," the 44-year-old former Ferrari and Toyota driver is quoted as having told the Finnish publication, adding that he will make his series debut in July.

Another former F1 driver, Nelson Piquet Jr., has also been racing in the Truck Series since 2010 and in the last race took his best result so far with second at Nashville driving with Kevin Harvick Incorporated.

Source: Crash.net

NASCAR: Fans will struggle to identify with Räikkönen

Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway, you will hear cheering for Kyle, Jimmie, Jeff, Mark and even a Junior — names that roll off the tongue of NASCAR fans everywhere.

You won’t be treated to Kimi. Although, that may be coming soon.

Sounds more like a piece of fruit than a racecar driver. No, wait, that is Kiwi. Anyway, it definitely isn’t the name of a driver you picture fans chanting across the south, which still has the largest concentration of NASCAR diehards.

But the unconventional, or the fact that Kimi Raikkonen is from the NASCAR-rich hub of Finland, won’t stop him from making his national series debut, driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) in the Camping World Truck Series event at Charlotte May 20.

Whatever the case, Mr. Räikkönen and NASCAR is a mix that doesn’t make sense.

Räikkönen being able to put both feet in the NASCAR pool shows how this sport has changed. It’s also part of the reason that the United States’ most popular series has lost touch with its fan base and seen its popularity plummet of late.

It’s no longer about talent, carving out good results. It’s about the dollars you bring to the table and how much you can offer a team monetarily.

Credit Kyle Busch for falling into a pit of money, because that is the only reason Raikkonen is able to buy his way into this series.

Busch needs sponsorship dollars for KBM, and what better way to turn the bottom line in your favor than to find a driver that brings bags of money?

This ride wasn’t earned. It was bought, a sad truth and reality that has faced NASCAR racing in the last 10 years.

It’s how drivers advance. Not by accomplishments, but more through the wallet. It’s also how drivers like Elliott Sadler kept a ride in the Sprint Cup Series so long. Really, do you think he would have been with the No. 38 team if not for the M&M/Mars tag?

Isn’t it ironic that when Sadler’s deal with the candy conglomerate was up, he went and those multi-colored milk chocolates stayed?

Hey, we get it. We don’t like the economics of the sport, but we accept them. It’s just the way it is in the racing world.

But fans don’t get it, and shouldn’t.

Look at the influx of foreigners who suddenly want to be part of the fold. Those trying to sell Raikkonen in the same cloth as Juan Pablo Montoya are off the mark. They are totally different scenarios.

Montoya was already part of Chip Ganassi Racing. He spent time in the Indy Racing League and won its premier event, the Indy 500. Where Räikkönen is a newbie, Montoya was already an established North American entity.

And how is that dominant foreign influence helping IRL? It’s not. Instead, it has hurt the popularity in the eyes of race fans who want to see American drivers prosper. Hurting your status and reputation is something NASCAR can’t afford.

We’re not saying Räikkönen isn’t an unbelievable talent; he is. The Finnish standout is young, good-looking and can drive anything with four wheels and probably anything with two or one. Problem is, fans will have trouble identifying with him.

No doubt, there is a group of dignitaries in the NASCAR head office that are grinning ear-to-ear with glee over Räikkönen’s arrival — another chance to further NASCAR’s reach.

But in reality, this move can only benefit Raikkonen’s global appeal and KBM, who is already looking to start a full-time Nationwide team, most likely on their new star’s dime.

As for NASCAR, it can do more harm than good by sending the wrong message to fans and other drivers looking to make their mark the old fashioned way: through hard work.

So far, the racing has been pretty good this season. Crowds are up, allegedly, and television ratings are better than a year ago. There has even been a spark of excitement.

There have been plenty of positives already this season. This, unfortunately, isn’t one of them

Source: pennlive.com