Kimi Raikkonen focused on "fun" in his NASCAR Cup debut

So far, it appears mission accomplished.

Raikkonen navigated through his first Cup Series practice and qualifying sessions on Saturday at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International without any on-track incidents.

While he was not in contention to win the pole, Raikkonen showed solid race pace and his biggest complaint was he would have liked more track time.

“I wish there had been more laps. It just felt like there is a lot of potential,” he said. “But you know, I’m not sure which line to take and just not enough laps to put everything together. But yeah, it was fun.

“Quite a lot of what I sort of expected after the simulator. Obviously, there’s always a difference but the fine data is never shown in the simulator. At least I knew the track, but I think, yeah, I needed to be a bit more better in a few places.

“Some places I thought I was pretty okay. But you know, it’s good. I didn’t expect anything and we are somewhat in the middle, so it’s okay.”

Kimi Raikkonen

Photo by: Project91

The race at The Glen marks Raikkonen’s first outing in a motorsport event since he retired from F1 last December with his final appearance for Alfa Romeo at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Finn’s appearance in a Cup Series race is part of Trackhouse Racing’s Project 91 initiative which is looking to expand NASCAR’s reach by introducing talented international racing drivers to the series.

To prepare for this weekend’s race, Raikkonen, 42, brought his entire family to the United States for several weeks to immerse himself in the experience.

During that time, he’s done simulator work, driven in iRacing events, participated in pit stop practice at the shop and recently took part in his “Select Driver Orientation Test” at Virginia International Raceway.

Asked why he would risk potential “failure” in moving to a different form of motorsports, Raikkonen dismissed the suggestion.

“I don’t see any risk. Why not?” he said. “What do I have to lose? That I‘ve done bad in a NASCAR race or bad in any race? I don’t care. I do it for myself. Good or bad result, it could happen even if I did 20 races. They all could be bad for many different reasons.

“I don’t see anything negative. I think it’s great. I’m sure there’s a lot of drivers that would like to have a chance and try, but it’s not very easy.

“So, maybe it opens some doors that in future there’s more chance to try to get more Europeans.”

Once practice and qualifying were over on Saturday, Raikkonen said his remaining focus in preparing for Sunday’s race was to become familiar with NASCAR rules.

“You know, not making any silly mistakes on that side, hopefully, and we’ll see what we can do with the car,” he said. “We had a little bit of an idea from where we started and where we went and maybe somewhere halfway is better, and you know, we try to improve.

“I want to have fun, but also do as well as we can.”