On the heels of a disappointing 27th-place finish in Saturday’s Top Gear 300 Nationwide Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Kimi Raikkonen is returning to Europe with future NASCAR plans completely up in the air.
Though Raikkonen’s test of Robby Gordon’s Sprint Cup car at Virginia International Raceway on Tuesday fueled speculation that the 2007 Formula One champion would make his Cup debut June 26 at Sonoma, Raikkonen said Saturday that his two appearances at Charlotte—the Nationwide race and the May 20 Camping World Truck Series event—are the only ones on the docket right now.
“My plan was always to do these first two races, and then I have to go back to Europe and do some rallies and see what happens,” Raikkonen said after Saturday’s race.
Raikkonen competes in the World Rally Championship under Red Bull sponsorship.
In Saturday’s Nationwide event, Raikkonen got his first taste of heat in the cockpit of a stock car. A native of Finland, where a substantial portion of the country lies within the Arctic Circle, Raikkonen wasn’t used to the temperatures in the greenhouse of his No. 87 Toyota.
Because Raikkonen wasn’t wearing foot shields in his driving shoes, he complained throughout the race that his feet were being burned.
“The floor got really hot under the seat,” Raikkonen 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.”
Further clouding his NASCAR future is the revelation made by car owner Kyle Busch on Thursday that Raikkonen and his NASCAR sponsor, Perky Jerky, have not met the payment schedule that was agreed upon when their association was announced.


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