![]() Penalties will take the whole day away from you. "Where the challenge is going to be is making sure he understands the race from a procedural standpoint. "From a speed and preparation and knowledge standpoint, he’s going to be right on par," Marks said. Raikkonen has been watching races to learn about NASCAR strategy. ![]() The biggest challenge for newcomers will be the intricacies of the NASCAR rules, as well as the amount of contact the cars will have with other cars throughout the event. He is natural with that. But I was very curious to get to know him in more of the mindset level."ĭaniel Suárez says Kimi Raikkonen asked lots of questions at the test last week ahead of making his Cup debut Sunday at Watkins Glen. I really thought he was going to be more quiet. A lot of people know him as being very, very quiet and a ‘leave me alone’ kind of thing, but he is not like that at all. Raikkonen is known for being stoic and not very loquacious when it comes to media, but Suárez said he was inquisitive and engaging at the test. Suárez, who drives for Trackhouse, attended the test with Raikkonen and accompanied him to simulator sessions. "But it was beneficial just to put some laps and have some fun and know what the car is somewhat doing." "It was nice to get some laps, even though it is not exactly the same car we are going to race," Raikkonen said. Raikkonen and Rockenfeller both tested last week for a couple of hours in a car built by Action Express Racing, a sports-car racing team that did some testing for NASCAR in the development of the Next Gen car and is partially owned by NASCAR Chairman Jim France. The driver can’t test with the team that will field the car for the race, but the Cup team can have four representatives at the test. NASCAR revised its testing rule earlier this year to allow a driver with elite credentials from the top levels of motorsports to do an orientation test. "Hopefully we can get a somewhat good result." "It’s been fun being in the car, not having driven any race car since the last F1 race," Raikkonen said following a test last week. Raikkonen hasn’t been in a car since the 2021 Formula 1 finale. So I just came into completely new territory."ĭenny Hamlin says former Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen driving for Trackhouse at Watkins Glen is great for publicity, but he doesn’t view Raikkonen as someone who will change the race dynamic. "The guys here have done it since they were 7 years old. "They’re both really cool and great fun in different ways. The way the cars drive and how you need to drive them, it is like day and night," Kvyat said at Indianapolis. Plus, all the Cup drivers have access to data and simulator time, which have helped them become much better road racers than a decade ago. Hamlin wasn’t saying that to be dismissive it’s just that racing in Cup is an adjustment. "But other than that, I'm not really sure that it changes the dynamic of the race too much." "It's a good thing for our sport to get some good publicity," Denny Hamlin said. He finished 15th and 27th in his truck and Xfinity starts. ![]() Raikkonen won 21 Formula 1 races in his career. The other drivers will be in cars that have rarely run near the front of the field this year. Most of the spotlight for the newcomers will be on Raikkonen, who is racing as part of Trackhouse’s Project 91, designed to bring a driver of international notoriety into the Cup Series. He also became the first foreign-born driver to win a NASCAR national series championship when he captured the 2016 Xfinity Series title. One foreign-born driver is well-known to NASCAR fans: Daniel Suárez, who became the first Mexican driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race when he triumphed at Sonoma earlier this year. Speaking last week about Kimi Raikkonen, team owner Justin Marks said he has high expectations based on Raikkonen’s preparation.
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