After 20 years as one of the most exciting drivers on the grid, Kimi Raikkonen retired from Formula One in 2021. The man was always swift, but so many of us adored his personality - or rather, his apparent lack thereof. His attitude toward foolish inquiries and lack of tolerance for corporate intervention were the antithesis of today's F1 drivers, who are PR-grooming walking billboards. He's sold a lightly used Ferrari F12tdf since leaving the F1 track, but he's largely remained beneath the spotlight. That is about to change, as the Finnish driver will race in NASCAR in America.

If you're curious, the embedded tweet above doesn't appear to contain anything inappropriate as far as we can determine, so feel free to view the video at your desk.

Kimi is immensely versatile, as we saw in our homage to the Flying Finn, and has expertise in sports other than Formula One, including rallying. As a result, we have high expectations for him as he competes in the NASCAR Cup Series this year as part of Project 91, an exciting program focused at attracting high-profile foreign racing drivers to NASCAR.

Kimi will drive the number 91 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Watkins Glen International on August 21, 2022, and is the first driver to be named as part of this year's program. So, why has he opted to compete again so soon after retirement?

"I wasn't planning on racing again," Kimi says, "but Justin [Marks, one of Project91's founders, the other being music artist Pitbull] came to my house in Switzerland and persuaded me that he was serious about putting up a topnotch program." "This is going to be a lot of fun, but it's also something I'm going to take very seriously. I'm well aware of how competitive the NASCAR Cup Series is, and I expect it to be a significant task."

"Kimi is a world-renowned driver with a huge amount of talent and fan following," Justin Marks says of Raikkonen, who was the first driver he had in mind while designing the project. We're excited to see how he performs, and given that he's previously flown stock cars, we have high expectations.

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