What’s with these F1 pilots driving NASCAR trucks?

Just a couple of quick notes before we get to the headline:

– Don’t forget that I do a podcast preview of every Grand Prix with Canadian Formula One expert Gerald Donaldson. Be sure to listen to our pre-race discussion about what to look for in next weekend’s Grand Prix of Malaysia, which will be posted to wheels.ca by noon on Thursday (a day earlier because of Good Friday).

In fact, this will be the headline: Malaysia GP Preview: Listen now

– Gerald also files a report from every Grand Prix (the lucky fellow gets to go to them all) and here’s a link to his story following this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix. I, of course, kick off Mondays with my review of all the weekend’s racing and that can be found at wheels.ca, thestar.blogs.com/autoracing and thestar.com/sports/autoracing

Hint: What did I think of the Aussie GP. Exciting – but not that exciting . . .

Okay, there’s something going on in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series that I find intriguing.

For the second time this season, an ex- Formula One driver has entered a race – and hasn’t done all that badly.

You will recall that Nelson Piquet Jr. entered the first truck race of the season at Daytona and finished a most respectable fifth. This was after extensive testing in the truck as well as in ARCA and Nationwide stock cars at that track but it was an excellent result all the same for an oval-track newbie.

Now, this weekend at the Martinsville, Va., half-mile "paper clip" short oval, none other than Indian F1 driver Narain Karthikeyan entered and finished 13^th after starting 11^th and I find this result even more astounding for a first-timer than I did Piquet’s.

The race on Saturday, incidentally, was won by Kevin Harvick – his second truck series victory this season. Ron Hornaday finished second and Brian Ickler was third.

Canadian D.J. Kennington of St. Thomas finished 17^th after starting 35^th, which was a great result for him as well. So far as I know, it was Kennington’s first crack at the trucks, after acquitting himself pretty well in recent years in the Nationwide Series, thanks to help from sponsor Northern Provincial Pipelines of Alberta.

But back to Kathikeyan for a moment. I don’t know if this guy had even seen an oval track before this weekend, never mind one like Martinsville where the straights are long and the corners are as tight as, well, a paper clip.

Qualifying was rained out and owner points set the field, which was a break for this guy because, as mentioned he started 11^th. But he sure got the hang of NASCAR short-oval racing quickly because not only did he finish 13^th but he was on the same lap as the winner and only 15 of the 36 starters managed to do that.

Karthikeyan previously drove in F1 for Jordan (in 2005) and was a test driver with Williams in 2006 and ‘07. He also drove for India in the A1GP series and did some sports car racing.

The fact that ex-F1 drivers like Piquet and Karthikeyan can do as well in NASCAR in so short a time shows two things: a) F1 drivers – even the second-tier guys – probably are the best drivers in the world. b) the times, they are a-changin’ and more and more "offshore" drivers are going to be attracted to NASCAR and that, in itself, signals interesting times ahead.

Comments

[Edward Palys]

If F1 drivers are the best in the world, then why is Montoya not at the top? Also, where is Villeneuve?
NASCAR racing is unique in its own way and commands the best drivers in its field, whether it's F1 or otherwise.

[Gord Vernon]

Norris ... what happened to Mike Lichty .. I thought that I had read somewhere that he was going Nascar truck racing this season but so far I haven't seen him listed.

Also, with regards to drivers driving in different series, I was very impressed with Kasey Kahne hopping into the Nicotra/Sitterly supermodified at Oswego last summer, after just a couple of laps he was almost as quick as Sitterly and looked very comfortable .. good racers are good in everything !

[Andrew Roberts]

You make an assumption that because a 2nd rate F1 driver that finished 13th in a 3rd rated Nascar series makes the rest of F1 drivers as good of a driver as a Kyle Busch or Jeff Gordon?

Who was the last Formula 1 Driver to win a Nascar race on a track that made simple left turns? Dan Gurney in 1963.

[john]

I think that's a pretty big heap of praise on Karthikeyan -- he had a truck that has top 5 finishes (Stacey Compton's) in its history, and he bulldozed his way through the field on several occasions, including a couple of incidents with Max Papis. Karthikeyan was a bit of a weapon.

Gord Vernon above is correct, although Mario Andretti was an EVENTUAL F1 driver who won Daytona in 1967.

But otherwise, F1 drivers' track records in NASCAR have been pretty bad. Montoya's won, but he won at a road course on a fuel mileage gamble. Villeneuve went nowhere. Christian Fittipaldi was a joke.

(And don't get me wrong, I love JPM and he's gotten better every year and he's due for an oval win.)

And if we open up the list to "open wheelers", it gets even worse, with only AJ Allmendinger doing ALL that well these days. Tony Stewart drives anything well, but he's the exception... Danica Patrick, Sam Hornish, Dario Franchitti (a 2-time champ!), and Scott Speed have all had major trouble getting acclimated to stockcars.

And don't even get me started on IROC... The real IROC that is, from the early 70s up to the mid 80s, where the best in the world from ALL series got together on road courses and ovals to get their butts kicked by NASCAR and USAC drivers. In the entire history of the series only two (TWO!) F1 drivers ever won a race, and one was Mario Andretti, and he doesn't count.

I've said it time and again, it's not more skill, it's different skill. F1 drivers are not the best drivers in the world--they're the best open wheel and road racers in the world. I don't expect Lewis Hamilton to jump in Tony Schumacher's Top Fuel car and do any good, and I don't expect Tony Stewart to hop on Ricky Carmichael's old moto-x bike and even finish one lap. It's different skill, not more skill.

The drivers that CAN win in every discipline? They're the true "greatest drivers in the world." Tony Stewart, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Jim Clark, AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, Mark Martin, Stirling Moss...

[John]

Narain is one of the best drivers in the world. He would surely be in the top 30 or 40. The fact that he has won in every racing series that hes raced in except F1 and Le mans (where he raced a 3year old Audi) shows that he capable of beating the best. Engineers who worked in England with him and with drivers like World Champion Button say that he is as good as them and that he is surely F1 winning material. He just had bad luck and was at the wrong place at the wrong time. So its not surprise to me that hes quickly adapting to NASCAR and he did not bull doze his way through he had just one incident where he pushed a car and the other two actually hurt him.