It wasn’t the finish that Räikkönen wanted but he showcased his prowess in a Cup car. (Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)
While Kimi Räikkönen’s afternoon ended 44 laps into Sunday’s Go Bowling at the Glen, the Espoo, Finland native put on an exciting performance for Project 91.
Starting from the 27th position in a rare single file green flag formation for the NASCAR Cup Series, the 42-year-old picked off positions with his experience racing in slick, rainy conditions.
By Lap 3, Räikkönen worked his way up to 20th, an impressive start considering his limited seat time in a Next Gen stock car. Nevertheless, he was poised, calm and confident in the No. 91 Recogni Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
Placing 19th in Stage 1, Räikkönen, with some crafty driving and smooth pit strategies from crew chief Darian Grubb, worked his way up to eighth in Stage 2.
Certainly, Räikkönen was outperforming some of the benchmark metrics placed on him considering the 11 year gap since his prior NASCAR start in Concord, North Carolina. In this case, “The Iceman” found himself battling the series’ past two champions in Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson.
As Larson worked his way up the leaderboard in Stage 2, he praised Räikkönen with his efforts in his Cup debut.
“That was cool. By the time I got to him, he was really struggling. He looked like he was really loose in front of me. I was able to make quick work of him,” Larson observed. “It’s just really cool for him to step out of his comfort zone and come play with us stockcar racers. It was more than just Kimi. The international drivers racing today was pretty cool.
“It was fun watching them up ahead of me being really aggressive. They’re as good as it gets when it comes to heavy braking, stuff like that. I could watch people up in front of them try to make a move on them, they wouldn’t be able to make the pass. That’s just their experience playing part today, and it was fun to be a spectator at points in the race.”
If Larson enjoyed racing against Räikkönen, it’s safe to say he was thrilled to race against his competitors.
However, his race was cut short as he was racing his way out of “The Bus Stop” on Lap 46. While trying to get past a spinning Austin Dillon, he was nudged into the wall by one of the lead lap contenders.
Räikkönen wound up hitting the wall heavily with his left side fender, sustaining sufficient damage to curtail his afternoon.
Instead of placing inside the top 20, Räikkönen finished 37th, a disappointing result in an otherwise enjoyable race day for the 2007 Formula 1 champion despite a minor injury.
Despite the crash, Räikkönen enjoyed racing for Project 91. (Photo: Sam Draiss | The Podium Finish)
“I don’t know what happened in front of the car,” Räikkönen said. “I had a good line going there and they all pushed kind of right hand side and I kept a tight line. But then on the second part, when they told me that somebody spun in front of the cars that were there, everybody kind of came left and hit me on the side.
“There’s nothing that I could’ve done. It’s just… the first hit on my car, it spun the wheel on my hands and something went wrong with the wrist but I’ll fix it when I get back home. So you know, it’s a part of the game.”
Even an experienced, winning racer like Räikkönen had little time to react to an incident he tried to avoid, particularly in the tricky “Bus Stop.”
“I wasn’t really involved with it. I had a good line there, but everybody seemed to be coming on the left of me, and unfortunately I had no time to react,” he recalled. “The first impact, somebody hit the tires or the wheels directly, the wheels spun and something was wrong with the race car, but that how it goes.”
Although Räikkönen’s day ended earlier, he kept an open mind about another opportunity should it present itself in NASCAR. For now, the Finnish racer knows he put on a great show while showcasing his competitive form after his sensational F1 career.
“Yeah, it was good fun. I felt more confidence all of the time,” he shared. “We had some good laps. It’s a shame. The car felt like it had a lot of speed, but that’s how it goes sometimes.”
Editor’s Notes
Nathan Solomon contributed to this feature directly on-site from Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York.
