Raikkonen still has NASCAR dreams

Kimi Raikkonen liked the appetizer, but he’s still waiting for the full-course meal in NASCAR racing. No, Raikkonen isn’t about to leave his highly prized seat with Ferrari in Formula One, but once his career in the elite open-wheel series winds down, he’d like to try his hand in the stock car ranks again.

Back in 2011, during a two-year break from F1 competition, Raikkonen raced twice during speedweeks at Charlotte in May, finishing 15th in a Camping World Truck fielded by Kyle Busch Motorsports and 27th in a Nationwide Series car .

“I was very pleasantly surprised with how nice and how fun it was,” Raikkonen said. “It’s not easy — like any competitive motorsport. I really enjoyed the time. Hopefully, I can do more of those and hopefully, in the future, some Sprint Cup.

“We’ll see.”

The 2007 F1 champion, who also has raced in the World Rally Championship, was impressed with the challenge NASCAR presented.

“I would like to learn it more,” Raikkonen said. “Like I said, it looks very easy, but it’s not easy. When you look at each circuit, it just looks like an oval, but every corner is different. When you have knowledge of the sport, you can run much stronger.

“I would like to have a good, proper run at it and try to learn and make good results out of it. It’s a different atmosphere, a different way of doing things than F1 or in the Rally, but I really enjoyed it.