Full Throttle

Nelson Piquet Jr, at the center of last seasons “Crashgate” storm, said on Tuesday he will compete in NASCAR next season having failed to obtain a drive in Formula One.

“I have spent the past few months carefully assessing my alternatives for this year. I had to choose a direction and it was a difficult decision to take … My first 18 months in Formula One did not exactly go according to plan so I decided to do something different”, Piquet said on his website.

“NASCAR is extremely competitive and nobody coming in from outside it has managed to win the category. “It will be an incredible challenge and something totally new for me,” he added without revealing which team he will compete for.

Excuse me for saying this Nelsinho, but I see the tried and true effort at smoke and mirrors. And a bit of “hey look at me, someone is, why aren’t you looking?”

Piquet at this point is withholding what team he’s looking at, or one that’s looking in his direction and it’s true no team is noted in any of the 8 to 10 related stories crossing the wires.

More telling, at least for me are the usual suspects are quiet on the subject.

None of the top F1 websites or those that cover NASCAR are reporting any rumors suggesting a team is considering the disgraced driver for a ride.

Not one.

I’m going to default to my norm, which is… I’ll believe it when I see it.

P.S. Nelsinho, better brush up on your NASCAR history, your window into the sport is somewhat lacking.

Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt were “outsiders” and did pretty well in NASCAR. Mario won the first NASCAR race he entered winning the 1967 Daytona 500 as a NASCAR rookie.

Tim Richmond, arguably a driver with more natural talent than any, started in open wheel and moved into NASCAR to dominate the sport in the few years before his death.

UPDATE: Finally someone has stepped forward given some validity to this story.

Red Horse Racing is the team giving Nelsinho a shot at NASCAR.

Piquet tested a truck at New Smyrna Speedway this week.

“We think he has a lot of talent, and we’re interested in him, and we’re trying to put everything together,” team owner Tom DeLoach said. “Nelson has made the decision that he’s very curious in racing in the United States in cars with fenders on them and back to real racing. … He has a great skill set.

“He still needs time in the seat driving a 3,400-pound vehicle. It’s not the same acceleration, not the same deceleration, has a high center of gravity and different aerodynamics.”

Ok, given what I originally said, I’ve seen it, now I believe it.

However, I don’t have to like it. With his intimate participation in F1’s Crashgate he’s very damaged goods in my book.

The second part of the equation that’s disturbing for me is Red Horse gave 19 year old Caitlin Shaw a shot at the big time in July when she made her first ever NCWTS start at ORP in Indianapolis. She qualed 32nd and despite a spin finished 24th.

The teen deserves a shot, not someone who’s escaping from scandal in an rehabilitation attempt far from the scene of the crime.

One quote by DeLoach says it all. “It’s one of those things [testing Piquet] that’s intriguing from us both from a talent perspective and the ability to open up different sponsorship avenues.”

As in most things money trumps all.

To be fair DeLoach is giving a shot for current ARCA Re/Max Champion, Justin Lofton, who will compete in the Truck Series behind the wheel of a Red Horse Toyota for the full 2010 schedule.