Two-time NASCAR cup champion Kyle Busch, who gave 2007 F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen a chance to drive in NASCAR, got arrested for carrying a handgun into Mexico in January.
Busch was vacationing in Mexico and was on his way back with his wife, Samantha when a handgun was found in his bag at the airport.
Following this, he was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison with a fine of $1,100. Although the punishment statement released by the Mexico Prosecutor’s Office has no explanation of how Busch’s punishments will be handled.
Nevertheless, Busch has admitted his mistake of forgetting to carry his permit of carrying a gun. He further added that he was not aware of Mexican law and he had no intention to bring a gun into Mexico.
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Kimi Raikkonen paid Kyle Busch $100,000 per race
After the 2010 season in F1, Raikkonen was told that his contract with Ferrari will not be renewed and so the iceman was replaced by Fernando Alonso.
With no vacancy available in any other F1 team, Raikkonen looked to motorsports out of F1 and found a calling in NASCAR.
After shopping around with multiple teams on the grid, Raikkonen settled with Busch who ran Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2011.
However, reports suggested that the Finnish F1 driver had to pay $100,000 per race to Busch to be able to race. The deal was to compete in 3 to 5 races but eventually, the F1 driver could only partake in one truck race.
May 28, 2011: Kimi Raikkonen ran in his final NASCAR race, the Nationwide Series race at Charlotte. Raikkonen drove a Kyle Busch car and ran in the top-20 for the first half but fell back to 27th at the finish. pic.twitter.com/GacDTVKfDt
— nascarman (@nascarman_rr) May 28, 2021
Busch was unaware of Raikkonen
Back in 2011, when Raikkonen approached Busch with the deal to drive in NASCAR, the American racer had no idea who Raikkonen was.
Nevertheless, he gave the Finnish driver a chance. Later it was rumoured that Raikkonen would make his truck debut with his own ICE1 racing team but none of it happened.
In 2001, Raikkonen made his debut in Xfinity Series and Campin World Truck Series for Busch at Charlotte Motor Speedway and finished 15th and 27th respectively.
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