NASCAR: Kimi Räikkönen dons fresh scheme for Cup debut at Watkins Glen

Trackhouse Racing’s PROJECT91 unveiled the sharp paint scheme that Kimi Räikkönen will pilot around Watkins Glen International in his NASCAR Cup Series debut this weekend.

Räikkönen, the 2007 Formula One World Champion and 21-race winner, returns to NASCAR behind the wheel of the No. 91 Recogni/iLOQ Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, introducing two new technology companies to the sport. Recogni, headquartered in San Jose, California, focuses on vision-based artificial intelligence, according to the team’s press release, aiming to allow vehicles to “make driving decisions more accurately than humans while consuming minimal amounts of energy.”

iLOQ is a Finnish-based company that has partnered with Räikkönen, a native of Espoo, Finland, since 2019 that centers around digital locking technology.

Räikkönen, who made respective Xfinity and Truck series starts in 2011, returns to stock-car racing in the Go Bowling at The Glen on Sunday.

He’ll be teammates with Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain and while the former knows that Raikkonen will drive fast, he’s wondering if the Finn knows how aggressive NASCAR drivers are going to be.

“I think he is going to be fast,” Suarez told Motorsport.com. “The speed is there, and the racing part is going to be a process because it doesn’t matter how much you practice in the simulator, doesn’t matter how many tests you do – the racing part is the racing part.

“It’s different and he doesn’t know all these drivers. He doesn’t know how they race, he doesn’t know how aggressive they are, so that part is going to take a little bit. You can bring the best driver in the world and it is going to take some time in the racing part. I think [as far as] the speed, I think he is going to be good.”