Kimi Raikkonen is heading to NASCAR for a one-off race on August 21, his first since retiring from Formula 1 at the end of 2021.
The 2007 world champion will join Trackhouse Racing Team’s PROJECT91 team for the Cup Series race at Watkins Glen, alongside Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain.
This won’t be Raikkonen’s first foray into NASCAR either after the Finn also competed in the Nationwide and Truck series in 2011, during his two-year absence from F1.
Commenting on his return to the track, the 42-year-old admitted what started as an initial idea had picked up steam in recent weeks.
“We had more talks about it, how would it work, where the race would be, and all sorts of other things,” Raikkonen said.
“There’s a lot of things involved, and it all made sense for me. It’s one race, so it made sense for all of us as a family. I always enjoyed it when I had my few races [in the United States].
“Hopefully we have a good race and good fun. Obviously, it’s a new car and I’ve never been at the track. But I’m sure we can figure it out.”
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The idea behind PROJECT91 is to bring international racing drivers into the NASCAR Cup Series and team owner Justin Marks was delighted by his first big name.
“I’m really excited to launch this year with Kimi Raikkonen,” he told NASCAR.com.
“Obviously, the 2007 F1 World Champion and the most experienced F1 driver in history, he’ll really help set this program off.
“I’m looking forward to it. I’m bullish in our ability to be able to track the global stars of motorsport and do something really special under the Trackhouse brand with PROJECT91.
“I think that he’s going to perform really, really well,” Marks added.
“The program is going to be first class. He’s going to have a real opportunity to go out there and compete.
“This isn’t just a PR stunt. The passion I have is fueled by the vision of someone coming in and winning.”
