Of course, a team owner is going to be biased about his latest driver, so it was no surprise that Kyle Busch had some good things to say about Kimi Raikkonen’s first days testing in NASCAR.
In Texas for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race, Busch said, on Thursday, that the 2007 Formula One World Champion drove some comparable lap times to his at Gresham Motorsports Park.
“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,” said Busch.
“They ran another day at Gresham and was kind of getting his feet used to caution laps, running down pit road, watching the lights on the tach and how all that goes. Working on some restart stuff and getting him accustomed to coming up through the gears quick and not spinning the tires on restarts. There’s still some things that we’d like to work on a little bit more, but we don’t feel like there’s any time before he gets back,” Busch explained
Then Busch said “there was another test today, they were in Rockingham (N.C.) with our trucks and he did good again, ran a lot better than we expected to run there - a lot faster than we expected to run there. I’m real happy with it.”
It’s still too early look into the Finn’s future progress though.
“As far as the Nationwide and Cup stuff goes, we haven’t had any discussions on that. He has asked after the truck debut in Charlotte, which is what our first focus is, kind of evaluating and seeing where he’s at and how he feels and what he wants to do,” Kyle Busch said.
“He has asked about Nationwide and Cup and if Kyle Busch Motorsports could do that or where would be the best place to do that. Like I said, he wants to reevaluate all that once we get past Charlotte,” Busch concluded.
In Texas for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race, Busch said, on Thursday, that the 2007 Formula One World Champion drove some comparable lap times to his at Gresham Motorsports Park.
 |
| Kimi Raikkonen getting in a pick-up truck of Kyle Busch Motorsport. (Photo: ICE1) |
“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,” said Busch.
“They ran another day at Gresham and was kind of getting his feet used to caution laps, running down pit road, watching the lights on the tach and how all that goes. Working on some restart stuff and getting him accustomed to coming up through the gears quick and not spinning the tires on restarts. There’s still some things that we’d like to work on a little bit more, but we don’t feel like there’s any time before he gets back,” Busch explained
Then Busch said “there was another test today, they were in Rockingham (N.C.) with our trucks and he did good again, ran a lot better than we expected to run there - a lot faster than we expected to run there. I’m real happy with it.”
It’s still too early look into the Finn’s future progress though.
“As far as the Nationwide and Cup stuff goes, we haven’t had any discussions on that. He has asked after the truck debut in Charlotte, which is what our first focus is, kind of evaluating and seeing where he’s at and how he feels and what he wants to do,” Kyle Busch said.
“He has asked about Nationwide and Cup and if Kyle Busch Motorsports could do that or where would be the best place to do that. Like I said, he wants to reevaluate all that once we get past Charlotte,” Busch concluded.