Ex-Formula One driver, Narain Karthikeyan, found the rough and tumble NASCAR truck series at the half-mile Martinsville paper-clip shaped track an eye opening experience.
Becoming the first driver from India to race in NASCAR he was knocked around quite a bit including a late-race spin which put him a lap down.
Karthikeyan said: “Well it was what I expected; it was very hard. I tried to learn a lot from the other drivers.
“The biggest problem is race craft. There is a lot of wheel banging going on and you don’t want to upset people in your first race, but, I stuck it out there and brought it home in 13th.
“If we keep going this way we should genuinely be in the top ten in the next half-dozen races.”
Cup driver, and truck team owner, Kevin Harvick won the race. Italy’s Max Papis finished 8th.
Becoming the first driver from India to race in NASCAR he was knocked around quite a bit including a late-race spin which put him a lap down.
Karthikeyan said: “Well it was what I expected; it was very hard. I tried to learn a lot from the other drivers.
“The biggest problem is race craft. There is a lot of wheel banging going on and you don’t want to upset people in your first race, but, I stuck it out there and brought it home in 13th.
“If we keep going this way we should genuinely be in the top ten in the next half-dozen races.”
Cup driver, and truck team owner, Kevin Harvick won the race. Italy’s Max Papis finished 8th.