Raikkonen could make more money and enjoy more international fame in Formula One, but like most racers, that's not what drives him. That's why he's the newest open-wheel driver to migrate to NASCAR.
Raikkonen, who will make his Nationwide Series debut in today's Top Gear 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, won a world F1 championship in 2007. Now he's racing Rally cars with hopes of working his way into a Sprint Cup Series ride.
"For sure, it's a different sport, different type of racing than what we have in Europe," he said. "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."
Raikkonen made his NASCAR debut last week in the truck series race at Charlotte. He started 31st and finished 15th on the lead lap. Like others before him, Raikkonen said he was compelled by the competitiveness in NASCAR.
Joe Nemechek and Kyle Busch worked together to make today's race a possibility. Nemechek supplied the car. Busch brought most of the crew. Now it's up to Raikkonen to do the rest.
"They needed to take about 500 pounds of right-rear spring out of that thing," Carl Edwards said after watching Raikkonen in Thursday's practice session. "He was loose, and he was driving the wheels off it. I was just surprised. I didn't know who was in that car. ... I thought it might be him, but he definitely has some car control, that's for sure. That's not lip service. That was pretty amazing. I might have seen smoke off the right rear."
Raikkonen already has tested a Sprint Cup car for Robby Gordon with hopes of driving in next month's road-course race at Infineon Raceway.
The Finnish driver isn't the first driver from the world's stage to wind up in NASCAR. Juan Pablo Montoya has found a home with Chip Ganassi Racing after winning seven F1 races, including the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500 and an IndyCar championship. Jacques Villeneuve, a former F1, IndyCar and Indianapolis 500 champion, still is trying to find substantial work in NASCAR. And former F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr. currently drives in the truck series.


Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/sports/racing/2011-05-27/story/finnish-start-raikkonen-makes-nascar-debut-nationwide-race-charlotte#ixzz1PX3mtCnL