NASCAR Americas race had just ended, and after three overtime battles, Tyler Reddick, who drove the No. 45, won the race.
Both F1 World Champions have had good performances in the race.
Raikkonen made his final stop on lap 14 of the race, and two laps later he showed the yellow flag for debris on the back straight. This forced a large number of fuel-conscious drivers ahead to make a pitstop, and Raikkonen took advantage of this to rise to 4th place in the race!
However, in the last 10 laps of the race there were multiple yellow flags due to accidents, and Raikkonen basically had to fight full-time drivers at Turn 1 every time he restarted. Coupled with the fact that the car had been visibly damaged after a number of bumps, Raikkonen gradually lost his competitiveness in the final stages of the race, and he eventually crossed the finish line in 27th place.
However, it was confirmed that Raikkonen had cut corners on the final lap, and he would have to accept the penalty of passing through the pit lane. As the race was over, the penalty turned into a 30-second penalty time, and Raikkonen finished 29th.
Barton had been 15th on the pitch before his own stop, although his pace of play was not as good as Raikkonen's and he spent most of his time outside of 25th on the track. However, he gradually improved his ranking with his steady driving late in the race, moving to 18th place after the last restart of the race and maintaining this position until the moment he crossed the line.
Barton has accumulated valuable NASCAR racing experience in addition to his successful results, and his more important goal will be on the centennial Le Mans race in June this year. He will compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in a modified NASCAR car.
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