At least Kimi Raikkonen had faced the NASCAR Cup experience once before, arriving at the Circuit of the Americas having been booted out of last year’s race at Watkins Glen and into the tyrewall, so at least he knew what he could expect.
Fellow F1 world champion Jenson Button joined him at COTA, and they were quickly lapping at a decent pace in practice and qualifying – where the pair were separated by just 0.033s – but would start outside of the top 20.
But when it came to the racing they were pretty much blown away.
The starkest example was Raikkonen’s perfectly-timed final pitstop that rocketed him to fourth with nine laps remaining. Having kept his nose clean all day, with barely a scratch on his Trackhouse Chevrolet Camaro, the Finn chose to restart on the outside lane in fourth, rather than lose a position but gain the all-important inside line for the long, uphill run to Turn 1.
There, he braked with the frontrunners, but when he turned in, Denny Hamlin had dived to his inside to make it three-wide, and Daniel Suarez – his team-mate – briefly got into the rear of him before backing out.
And who took the fifth spot at that restart? Tyler Reddick, who timed it to perfection and lunged down the inside to claim the lead. He went on to win the race…
That sent Raikkonen back to eighth, but he’d learnt a valuable lesson – dropping a spot to restart ninth but on the inside lane next time. The first corner worked out much better for him, but then he then found himself four-wide at Turn 2 and got pushed back to 11th. After rubbing doors with Joey Logano through the Esses, Raikkonen was shuffled out again, ending the next lap in 17th.
After another yellow, the 2007 F1 world champion had clearly had enough of going backwards and piled into the back of Ryan Blaney at the next restart at Turn 1, spinning him out. Raikkonen got back to 12th by choosing the outside lane for the next restart, but the punter soon became the punted; he got spun further around the lap and would end his day way in 29th.
“They kept coming, getting more restarts and more restarts, so I think after the spin I had, the tyres were just done,” he reflected afterwards. “It’s a shame, because we were there [inside the top 5], but then we restarted, and just wrong place, wrong time.
“We got unlucky with the incidents that happened. It was one of those things, unfortunately. It looked like you’d be very good, then three corners later, somebody’s going the wrong direction. There’s a bit of mess and luck involved.”
Button only rose into the top 20 for the final restart and battled his way to a very respectable 18th by the chequered flag – remarkable given the fact he stopped twice in the pits in the second half of the race to receive water and ice bags because he thought he was going to lose consciousness in the car.
“The action is amazing, I have to give it to these guys,” said Button. “The first 10 laps, they just destroyed me. Left me standing. Every time I was in a corner, I had someone overtaking me.
“The first stint was really bad – it was embarrassing for me. It felt wrong, I was driving in a race where nothing’s natural. I took a while to learn the racecraft. And I hadn’t raced for three years, and I’ve never hit a car… intentionally.
“I was like [on the radio] ‘All right guys, we need to pit, freshen the tyres and I need some air – I need some fresh air.’ I got that. The pace was good, consistency was good. I was really happy and passed a few cars, which was nice.
“In the [next] stint I’d had a whack from Kimi, and it just felt so oversteery, I just went backwards. I need to improve some things in the car, but I enjoyed the end. I got it wrong on the last restart, but I made up five or six places on the last two laps.”
Button’s next event will be the Chicago Street Race in July, so he has some time to work with his Rick Ware Racing team to get him more comfortable in his Ford Mustang.
“It was so hot,” he added. “I don’t have a fan in my seat, which really didn’t help me too much. I was so close to getting out of the car, because I thought I was going to faint.
“I must’ve drank eight [or] nine bottles of water during the race. The team kept me calm, and it’s the reason why we got a good result in the end. So, I was happy.”
It wasn’t just the F1 guys who found the going tough: Corvette’s IMSA ace Jordan Taylor, in for the injured Chase Elliott at Hendrick Motorsport, starred by qualifying in fourth, but this road course ringer tumbled in the early going after flatspotting a tyre.
He rallied to the fringe of the top 10 at the final restart but got involved in a clash with Aric Almirola that dropped him to 24th at the finish.
“We had great speed all weekend,” said Taylor. “It’s just too bad our end result didn’t reflect that. I was a little too cautious to begin with and had a couple of mistakes that set us back early on.
“I thought protecting the car was the right thing to do, but I found out pretty quickly that you have to brace for impact on restarts and hope you somehow come out in one piece, driving in the right direction. You almost had to be the aggressor not to get smashed in the back.
“I don’t know who it was [at the final restart], but they were never going to make the corner and used us as their brake. We definitely had the potential for a top 10.”
On the subject of the robust racing, he added: “Guys don’t really plan on making clean moves. I kinda expected it to be a little more respectful but if they see an opening they use you to get their car stopped. It’s just an experience thing.
“Too bad it didn’t go our way – disappointed with our result but proud of our effort.”
Even seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson found it tough: He didn’t make it as far as lap two, after being wiped out by Ty Dillon spinning into him on the approach to the final corner of the opening tour. His Camaro was too damaged to continue.
“It’s really disappointing but it comes with racing, it’s part of it,” said Johnson. “Unfortunately, we didn’t have a good day in qualifying [he started down in 31st] so we were around the wrecks, so those things can happen. It’s sad that we didn’t take one lap under green.”
Whether it’s in your first Cup start like Button, or your 688th like Johnson, keeping out of harm’s way to get a strong finish is what makes NASCAR road racing one of motorsport’s greatest challenges – whoever you are or whatever you’ve achieved.
