Kimi Raikkonen's first appearance on a NASCAR oval has gone ahead, with the former world champion qualifying in 31st position for his first Truck Series appearance at Charlotte.
After two solid practice runs in the morning which saw Raikkonen place a consistent 30th position in both, with few dramas save for the typical power slide and wall scrape that are standard for the series, the 2007 F1 world champion put in another conservative but confident drive to ensure that the #15 Perky Jerky Toyota would make the starting line-up of the evening race.
The pressure on Raikkonen was relaxed somewhat when it was clear that there were fewer entrants than expected. In the end, only one truck - that of Norm Benning - failed to qualify.
Timothy Peters qualified on pole ahead of Sprint Cup regular Clint Bowyer. Raikkonen's team owner, Kyle Busch, qualified in sixth while another formr F1 driver, Nelson Piquet Jr., also qualified in the top ten. Raikkonen was visited in the garage area by his former McLaren etam mate Juan Montoya who offered words of advice and encouragement, at what was their first reunion in several yeas.
At his first NASCAR press conference, Raikkonen was forthright about what he was doing here this weekend: "I wanted to see how it is, how it feels. If I suck, there's no reason to come back. We'll see how it goes." The assembled media were reportedly a little taken aback by the impassive demeanour that F1 fans know well and love from the "Iceman."
The race takes place at 8pm ET, 1am BST and will be carried live and free-to-air on the Sky platform on channel 433 by Premier Sports TV.
