Kimi Raikkonen meet Ross Chastain.
The F1 champion’s NASCAR Cup debut ended early at Watkins Glen Sunday through no real fault of his own.
After a two-hour delay for rain and lightning, Raikkonen started 27th. By lap 4, he was inside the top 20 in 19th. As the rain stopped and the sun came out, Raikkonen pitted and took dry slicks, and was soon running as high as 8th.
Just after the start of the final stage, while running just inside the top 20 again, Ross Chastain got into Austin Dillon going through the bus-stop chicane on Lap 44. Dillion was spun, and Raikkonen on the inside and just behind Chastain was forced over the outside curb. His No. 91 Chevy was punted across the track and sent nose first into the outside Armco barrier. He climbed from the car and his race was over.
After the dust settled, Raikkonen said he wasn’t sure what had happened.
“I wasn’t really involved with it” he said. “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. 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.”
He officially finished 36th on the day in a one-off race for the Trackhouse Racing owned Project91.
“It was good fun,” he said. “I felt more confidence all of the time. 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.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.