Kimi Raikkonen interested in return to NASCAR
AUSTIN, Texas -- Kimi Raikkonen loved his two-race stint in NASCAR so much, he'd like to try it again someday.
Raikkonen, a 35-year-old Formula One driver, raced in two NASCAR events at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2011. He finished 27th in a Nationwide Series race and 15th in a Camping World Truck Series race for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
"I hope one day (to come back)," he said Thursday in Austin, where he and his Ferrari team are preparing for Sunday's United States Grand Prix. "Obviously I didn't know how it is, so when I came to U.S. to do that, I was very pleasantly surprised by how nice and how fun it was.
"It's not easy, like any popular sport, but I really enjoyed the time. Hopefully I can do more of those and hopefully in the future -- some Sprint Cup. We'll see what happens."
Of course, Raikkonen still has some years left in F1. Any NASCAR racing would only come after his F1 career was complete.
This time, though, Raikkonen said he'd "like to have a good proper run at it."
"I'd like to to learn it more, because it looks very easy, but it's not easy," he said. "You look at the circuits, it looks like an oval, but every corner is different. When you have a knowledge of that sport, you can be much stronger."
The Finland native said he was especially attracted to the "different atmosphere" and "different way of doing things" in NASCAR when compared to F1 or rally car racing.
"I really enjoyed things," he said.
But teammate Fernando Alonso wasn't as enthusiastic about stock car racing. Aside from occasionally playing as Jeff Gordon in a PlayStation video game ("I like the colors," he said), Alonso said he has no interest in NASCAR.
"It doesn't come to my mind now," he said. "I never watch it. It would be very difficult for me to do something very new."
But in five or six years, Alonso said he couldn't say whether he might find himself attracted to the sport.
"Who knows?" he said. "You can never close the door to anything."
Follow Jeff Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck.