Raikkonen will become the second F1 champion to drive in the Camping World Truck Series — Jacques Villeneuve, 1997 F1 champion, competed in the series, making his debut in 2007. He will be one of three former F1 drivers in the CWTS race at Charlotte: Nelson Piquet Jr, Max Papis, and Raikkonen.

Team owner Busch said:

We’ve sent him a few videos the past couple of years of truck racing at Charlotte. He’ll get a good view of what to expect with the in-car stuff, listening to throttle control, how much you’re on the gas and how to race people.

Raikkonen will be the seventh former F1 driver to have raced in the series. The other six are Narain Karthikeyan, Papis, Piquet Jr, Eliseo Salazar, Scott Speed, and Villeneuve. Of them, Piquet Jr is the only one to have posted a top 10 in his debut, finishing sixth at Daytona International Speedway in 2010. Scott Speed is the only former F1 driver to win a series race, winning at Dover International Speedway in 2008.

Raikkonen began racing in F1 in 2001, driving for Sauber-Petronas (now known as Sauber). In 2002, he began racing for what is now known as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. With McLaren, he finished the 2003 and 2005 F1 seasons as runner up for the championship. Some say that unreliablecars from McLaren were to blame for him missing both championships.

He switched to the team now known as Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, and won the 2007 F1 championship. Two years later, he was replaced by Fernando Alonso at Ferrari. Negotiations with McLaren and Mercedes GP didn’t pan out. He was offered a ride with Toyota F1, but Raikkonen declined. It was reported that Raikkonen wanted to drive a race-winning car (which Toyota F1 didn’t have) and that the salary was not high enough.

Raikkonen left F1 after the 2009 season and began racing full time in the World Rally Championship, driving for the Citroën Junior Team with sponsorship from Red Bull.

Raikkonen currently drives for his own team, ICE 1 Racing. It was originally rumored that his ICE 1 racing team would field his truck for his NASCAR debut. Shortly thereafter, however, Kyle Busch Motorsports announced that they signed Raikkonen.

The No. 15 truck driver by Michael Waltrip was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-J (any determination by NASCAR Officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules); and 20B-3.1.2E (rear spoiler did not meet specifications in post-race inspection) of the 2011 NASCAR Rule Book.

Crew chief Doug Howe was fined $25,000 and put on probation for the remainder of the calendar year. Team owner Billy Ballew has been penalized with the loss of 25 owner’s points.

The team was found to be in violation of Sections 12-1 (actions detrimental to stock car racing); 12-4-J (any determination by NASCAR officials that the race equipment used in the event does not conform to NASCAR rules) and 20B-5.12.1B (only a NASCAR-approved composite air filter housing will be permitted; use of unapproved air filter housing) of the 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Rule Book.

Crew chief Richard Wauters was fined $2,500 and placed on NASCAR probation until the end of the calendar year.

Waltrip, who is running a limited Sprint Cup schedule next season with his team, Michael Waltrip Racing, may not want to run a full truck schedule next season. Waltrip stepped back after signing Martin Truex Jr to replace him in a Napa Toyota next season.

Waltrip was quoted as saying:

[Billy Ballew is] working on sponsorship, and if it comes through, there’s a pretty good chance I’ll run a couple races for him.

 Kyle Busch drove a BBM truck last season part-time, and he won seven races in those trucks. Last month, Busch announced plans to start his own truck team.

Meanwhile, Ballew is looking to find drivers to fill his two open seats. He is also looking for sponsorship for Waltrip and a second driver, Aric Almirola. He’s also said that he is considering Steve Wallace for a part-time truck team.

Ballew expects an announcement on Waltrip next week.

Busch dropped back on the final restart, but once his truck got going, he passed leader Todd Bodine with four laps to go. He later held off a hard-charging Kevin Harvick. Harvick had a slow pit stop that cost him a chance at victory, but he managed to finish second.

Top 5: Busch, Harvick, Bodine, Mike Skinner, and Terry Cook.

Chad McCumbee, Ron Hornaday, Mike Bliss, Johnny Benson, and Brian Scott rounded out the top 10.

Notables: Matt Crafton (11th), Rick Crawford (16th), David Starr (17th), Johnny Sauter (18th), Stacey Compton (19th), and Dennis Setzer (28th).