KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN RETURNS TO NASCAR THIS WEEKEND FOR HIS DEBUT IN THE NATIONWIDE SERIES AFTER A SUCCESSFUL PERFORMANCE IN THE CAMPING WORLD TRUCK SERIES

Perky Jerky Reveals Paint Scheme for Kimi Räikkönen’s No. 87 Toyota

Perky Jerky, the ultra-premium jerky flavored with a hint of guarana that’s quickly gaining fame around the world, unveiled today the paint scheme set to adorn the No. 87 Toyota Nationwide Series race car that Kimi Räikkönen will race in his return to NASCAR this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. This race will mark Räikkönen’s second NASCAR performance in as many weeks, with Perky Jerky as the primary sponsor.

On May 20th, Räikkönen made his first appearance in NASCAR when he competed in the Camping World Truck Series. Amidst a crush of media and international fans, the Finnish racer qualified 31st in the field and piloted his truck to complete the race in 15th position, an epic performance for his first time in a NASCAR truck and on a speedway. Räikkönen described his first NASCAR experience as “fun”, and commented that he’s looking forward to another NASCAR performance, where he can put his first education into practice.

The NEMCO-owned No. 87 Perky Jerky Toyota will be assembled, managed and fielded by Kyle Busch Motorsports on behalf of Perky Jerky.

“Last week, Kimi put on an incredibly impressive performance at Charlotte Motor Speedway by powering his Perky Jerky truck through half the pack”, said Brian Levin, Perky Jerky founder and chairman of the herd. “Now with one speedway race under his belt, the world will be watching as Kimi Räikkönen brings the No. 87 Perky Jerky Toyota to the finish line in first place.”

Already entrenched in NASCAR as the official and exclusive jerky of the Daytona 500, Perky Jerky has developed a marketing strategy that includes consumer sampling via Velcro suits, better known as the “jerk suit” and tasting opportunities via the “jerk bar”, a traveling sampling display, which has become a must-stop at many NASCAR events around the country.

Kimi Räikkönen’s first Nationwide Series appearance will be this Saturday, May 28th in the Top Gear 300 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The race will be broadcast live on ABC at 2:30 ET nationwide.

About Perky Jerky: Four years ago during a ski lift calamity, Perky Jerky’s founders spilled energy drink all over their stash of beef jerky. Stranded, hungry and 40-feet off the ground, they ate the soaked jerky and realized they were on to something. Three years in the kitchen and hundreds of homemade jerky recipes later, Perky Jerky was perfected and launched in 2009. In less than two years, Perky Jerky has quickly reached stratospheric levels of popularity amongst athletes, moms, students, troops and truckers alike. Perky Jerky can be found at many retailers across the country, including Home Depot, 7-Eleven, Publix, Target, Sports Authority and many other fine retailers. Keep up with Perky Jerky on Facebook and on Twitter

To learn More about Perky Jerky, visit www.perkyjerky.com

To learn more about Kimi Räikkönen, visit www.kimiraikkonen.com.

Source: Perky Jerky.com
Courtesy: Sleenster

Kimi Räikkönen Makes NASCAR Debut For Kyle Busch Motorsports

Former Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkönen made his NASCAR debut Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, taking the wheel of the No. 15 truck for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Running 30th in both practice sessions, Räikkönen was unhappy with the day's progress but knew there would be a major learning curve in NASCAR.

“Since I stopped in Formula 1, my interests have always been in many different motorsports,” Räikkönen said. “I want to try different things and this wasn’t the first time that I have been offered to come here. I had a good time to come and see how it is and learn and try to get better in it. That’s really the only reason that I came. I was interested to see how it is and how it feels and how it is racing in NASCAR.”

Making his debut this weekend in Charlotte, Räikkönen said he had no further plans set in place, but hopes to get a chance to run some Sprint Cup Series races if all goes well.

“I don’t have big plans – I don’t have any plans for next year or anything of what I do,” he said. “I see how it is because I didn’t have any expectations when I came here. It’s a bit like when I went to rally (cars) – I didn’t have much expectation, I wanted to see how it is.

"It’s the same story here. For sure, it’s a different sport. Different type of racing than what we have in Europe. It’s very popular here and maybe it looks easy, but it’s not so easy to be fast. We’ll see how it goes and what the future will bring. We go step-by-step and see what happens.”

Friday’s practice sessions reinforced that sentiment, as he struggled to find a handle on the No. 15 truck.

“Wasn’t very good day, but we have to start from somewhere,” Räikkönen said. “Improve hopefully in qualifying and in the race we can do a bit better. Of course there’s a lot of things to know what you want from the car. It looks quite similar, the circuits here, but it’s not. You have to learn all the best things on every circuit and what you can do and the best lines. That really comes with the knowledge and experience. We try to survive through the day and try to do the best that we can and hopefully we are much more smarter and we know more things after that.

“I hoped to have a little bit more during the practice, but the handling of the car was not what I wanted and at the end it was a bit better. I’m still not happy, but it would be nice to still have some more practice. It is what it is and it will be interesting to see how it goes in the race because that is really the first time now that you have some cars beside you and you can go and overtake some guys. It is a different thing once we go all together in the start and the first laps. We have to learn it and hopefully it goes smoothly.”

Throughout the days two practice sessions, Räikkönen was able to talk things over with team owner Kyle Busch between track time.

“Expectations for Kimi tonight are pretty simple,” Busch said. “Just try to get him to run all the laps, try to get him to gain some experience, get him out there around some other trucks. Try to drive the truck a little harder and get a feel for it. Feel the loose, feel the tight. Apparently we’ve already given him both of those, but to be able to get him to feel that in traffic and race around some other guys and see if he can’t make his way forward. Essentially, just try to complete all the laps and get experience.”

Running rally cars in Europe, Räikkönen is making NASCAR attempts as it fits into his schedule.

“I have always planned to do the rally this year so this is really when I have time, but the NASCAR I wanted to see how it is, how it feels, how I do here,” he said. “So I mean if I completely suck here, there’s probably no reason to come back, but hopefully it goes better than today. I mean, I don’t know yet. Like I said, we go day-by-day and see how it goes and what comes in the future it comes. Like I said, I have no plans for next year so it’s too early to think about it.”

Indicating his plans are to run this weekend and next weekend, Raikonnen left the door open for a Nationwide Series start as the Camping World Truck Series has the weekend off. Busch said his team would be unable to field Räikkönen in the Nationwide Series race next week as his team does not have a Nationwide license and his crew members are not licensed to work in the Nationwide Series, “so it would have to be with somebody else.”

Courtesy: Kriss

TRUCKS: Räikkönen Prepping For NASCAR Debut

Kyle Busch Motorsports officials are confident that Kimi Räikkönen is ready to compete in the Camping World Truck Series...

Kimi Räikkönen has not been sitting idle since it was announced on April 2 that he would compete in the No. 15 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota Tundra in Friday’s N.C. Education Lottery 200 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

After the 31-year-old former Formula One champion performed a two-day test last month at Gresham Motorsports Park followed by a half-day test Rockingham, KBM officials felt confident that Räikkönen would be ready to compete in the Camping World Truck Series.

“He did a tremendous job,” said crew chief Eric Phillips. “It took him an hour or two at Gresham to get up to speed but when we got to Rockingham, after four laps he was faster than when we’d been there testing with Brian (Ickler) or Taylor (Malsam) last year. So me and Rick (KBM General Manager) were really impressed.”

During last month’s tests, the team worked with chassis adjustments, various shock packages and air pressure changes as the driver acclimated to the truck first on the half-mile track and then at the 1.017-mile speedway at the Rock.

“It was a lot of fun, I really had no expectations or anything to compare it to beforehand but at the end of the day, I am really looking forward to the first race,” said Raikkonen in a team release. “It seems like KBM is a top team and I am excited to work with them.”

KBM also sent Räikkönen additional materials, including videos of earlier races at Charlotte Motor Speedway, to expedite his learning curve in a truck.

“I believe we also sent him a few in-car cameras so he can watch and get used to listening how throttle control was, how much you’re on the gas, how to race people and sometimes what happens when you’re side by side with guys,” Kyle Busch said. “I think I won the truck race there last year and the year before (Ron) Hornaday and I battled it out and we ended up spinning or something. He’ll get a good view of what to expect ... with some in-car camera stuff.

“When he gets back to the States, he’ll go over the NASCAR R&D Center and sit down with those guys and get an explanation of the drivers’ meeting -- the long version of the drivers meeting, the one that tells you all about double file, passing the pace on the wave around, the long version so he can get an idea of how everything works. That’s pretty much it.”

While it was the hope that Räikkönen would visit the NASCAR R&D Center, his schedule might not permit it. NASCAR senior director of communications for competition Kerry Tharp said the sanctioning body was simply extending an invitation and there was nothing required of the driver before the race.

Although there are 43 entries for the truck race and only 36 positions, Busch said driving the truck “is pretty simple, like anything else.” Busch should know. He won the race from the pole last year in his own equipment. It was Busch’s third win and third pole in a truck at Charlotte.

“As far as the truck goes, it’s like any of the other trucks that we have,” Busch said. “We had one in the stable and we’ve been working on it for two months now, probably, ever since we’ve known. We’ve been fine-tuning on it and getting ready along with my truck for Charlotte.”

Source: FOXSports.com - Speedtv

TRUCKS: Much Anticipation Surrounding Räikkönen Debut

History will be made as Kimi Räikkönen becomes the first F1 champion to race at Charlotte Motor Speedway...

Fans in attendance at the North Carolina Education Lottery 200 will have a chance to witness history as 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen will make his NASCAR debut, May 20, at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race will mark the first time in the speedway's 52-year history that a former champion from Formula One, arguably the top open-wheeled series in the world, will compete in a NASCAR event.

The 31-year-old Finnish driver follows in the footsteps of world champions Mario Andretti, Jimmy Clark and Jacques Villeneuve as the only Formula One champions to ever make the transition to NASCAR.

While Andretti competed at Charlotte Motor Speedway, it was 11 years before he captured the Formula One crown in 1978. Villeneuve won the title in 1997, then went on to compete in 13 NASCAR races across the top three national touring series, but never tested his skills at Charlotte. Clark won two championships in 1963 and 1965, but only made the trip over to the United States for one race at Rockingham Speedway in 1967.

Räikkönen, who is considered to be one of the top drivers in the world, left Formula One and the iconic Ferrari factory team after the 2009 season and has been competing in the World Rally Championship since that time. Now he has teamed up with one of the hottest drivers in NASCAR, Kyle Busch, at Kyle Busch Motorsports.

"We're honored that Kimi has chosen to start his career in NASCAR with us," Busch said earlier this year. "Adding one of the most talented drivers in the world is a continuation of building a team of proven winners and champions at KBM."

Adding to the intrigue of the international star coming over from Europe is the fact that he hand-picked Charlotte Motor Speedway for his first race.

"He was adamant about Charlotte and running that race. It will be good for him to get his feet wet," said Busch.

Source: Nascar.SpeedTv
Courtesy: sleenster