Kimi Raikkonen was vague Thursday about his NASCAR plans, indicating little more than he’d like to do a Sprint Cup race, maybe on the road course on Sonoma. The former Formula One world champion will run the Nationwide Series race Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, and revealed nothing more about his schedule. The most telling update came from Kyle Busch, who said he has nothing else planned with Raikkonen after this weekend. That’s a change from when their deal was announced: Busch said Raikkonen would run three to five races for Kyle Busch Motorsports. What’s changed? Money. “The contract states that we’re supposed to receive so much, and we have not. We’ve only received enough for these two races,” Busch said. “It’s either up to Kimi or up to the financial people that run Kimi’s business side of things and decide that they need to find the sponsorship funds in order to carry the experience for him further.” Raikkonen said he heads back to Europe on Saturday after the race. “I have other things to do,” he said. “After that, I don’t know when I will be back. I have rally in Greece and some other rallies.”(Associated Press)(5-27-2011)
UPDATE: Kimi Raikkonen says there was a misunderstanding with Kyle Busch on the financial arrangement concerning Raikkonen’s venture into NASCAR. Busch said Thursday that Kyle Busch Motorsports was “supposed to receive so much, and we have not” in the deal to run in three to five Truck Series races. Raikkonen said Saturday he has paid in full for driving Busch’s truck last weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway and for driving a Nationwide Series car for Busch and Joe Nemechek Saturday at CMS. He said further payment will depend on whether he drives another Truck Series race for Busch. “I mean, it’s a situation we paid,” Raikkonen said after qualifying 22nd for Saturday’s race. “Who knows if we want to do more.” Todd Hirschfeld, who manages Raikkonen’s racing efforts in the United States, said Raikkonen’s situation changed when he added the Nationwide race to the schedule. “It was taken out of context. Kimi doesn’t know what he wants to do, but everything so far has been paid for.”(ESPN)
AND Kimi Raikkonen has paid for the races he has run for Kyle Busch Motorsports and does not owe the team money, KBM General Manager Rick Ren said Saturday.(SceneDaily)(5-29-2011)
