Kimi to Nascar

ncjay wrote: Lots of guys with great racing resumes have tried and failed.

Yet Paul Menard still gets to run every week because his familys name is on the side of the car!

LainfordExpress wrote: So, this is almost Talladega Nights come to fruition, right?

I thought Talladega Nights was already based on JPM's move to NASCAR. They even show the McLarens in the movie.

Kimi approved by Nascar to race the Camping World Truck Series race at Charlotte on May 20th. How many people do you think will be watching that race? Wow, a F1 world champion racing a pick up truck. What has the world come to?

Paul Menard is still running because his dad is twice as rich as Roger Penske.

It amuses me that there are people out there who think that just because someone rose thru the ranks of Nascar and is very successful in that series that they are unable to compete in any other form of motorsports. But an F1 driver who comes up running Euro carts must be much better. And then when the F1 driver can't win at Nascar, it must be for some other reason than Nascar having world-class race drivers. That is the definition of ignorance and bigotry.

Awaiting the day that Alonso and Hamilton are team mates for Rick Hendrick...

F1 to NASCAR. So far, it's worked great for Scott Speed...

Not that I have personal experience with any of these cars, but a 3400lb stock car is a whole different animal than any open wheel Indy/F1 style car. Just because you can drive one doesn't automatically translate to the other.

NASCAR, like any other racing, depends largely on the size of your teams wallet. Look how many former open wheelers have tried NASCAR with lesser teams, and looked horrible. JPM is with a well funded team and at least has been competitive. Had he been with a small team, I don't care how good of a driver he is, he'd have been running 35th.

With the right funding and lots of seat time, Kimi might surprise people. Without top level equipment, he'll fail for sure.

I think Kimi might do alright in Nascar. Even if he's not doing very well in rally, he grew up in Finnland driving on ice and snow. A Nascar race car is way under tired for the weight making for a loose car. Maybe that's just like racing in the snow and ice to him. Can't wait to hear his interviews....

Nelson Piquet Jr. grew up in Brazil and hasn't shown much in truck racing. JPM? He's got skillz.

sergio wrote: Nelson Piquet Jr. grew up in Brazil and hasn't shown much in truck racing.

He's just another example of how a name doesn't automatically make you a good driver. See: M Waltrip, Kyle Petty, Junior, ...

Klayfish wrote: F1 to NASCAR. So far, it's worked great for Scott Speed... Not that I have personal experience with any of these cars, but a 3400lb stock car is a whole different animal than any open wheel Indy/F1 style car. Just because you can drive one doesn't automatically translate to the other. NASCAR, like any other racing, depends largely on the size of your teams wallet. Look how many former open wheelers have tried NASCAR with lesser teams, and looked horrible. JPM is with a well funded team and at least has been competitive. Had he been with a small team, I don't care how good of a driver he is, he'd have been running 35th. With the right funding and lots of seat time, Kimi might surprise people. Without top level equipment, he'll fail for sure.

“We only ran about 50 laps [at Rockingham] today because it was obvious we didn't need to get much more out of this test,” said Eric Phillips, the crew chief for owner/driver Kyle Busch's No. 18 Toyota Tundra in NASCAR's Camping World Truck Series. “The [31-year-old] kid definitely knows how to drive."

" “I wasn't there until later on in the afternoon on the first day, and I got to see it first-hand,” Busch said Thursday at Texas Motor Speedway. “I got in the truck myself and ran some laps to see how I compared to where he was at on tires and stuff, and we ran identical lap times, so he's right there—he knows what he's doing.”