Narain Karthikeyan managed to finish his first Nascar race, in 13th position. Given that he was the first Indian driver to move from open wheel racing, Nascar had a lot of coverage. That and he got together with a few others trucks during the race. Then again, that’s normal with Nascar.

Narain managed to finish his first practice at the 31st spot and the second practice at 21st. With Qualifying rained out, Nascar used something called Owner points (I’m assuming it’s equivalent of Team points in F1) to place him 11th.

All said and done, he managed to have a great debut. Although people have to get used to his name.

Here is the first report out after the race.

Narain Karthikeyan made history at Martinsville as he became the first driver born in India to make a NASCAR national series start. Karthikeyan was on the lead lap until Lap 200, when contact with Clay Greenfield sent the No. 60 around and Karthikeyan was unable to get it re-fired, dropping him a lap. Karthikeyan was able to get his lap back though, and finished 13th.

I’ve never been a big fan of Nascar, but as an Indian motorsports fan, I had to follow Narain’s progress and I was not disappointed.

From the sounds of it Narain will be doing a few more races this year.

Now if someone would educate him about good Chicken wings, I’d be happy.

Narain is also active on twitter @narainracing, make sure you follow him.

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Well, UPS is already in NASCAR, but a desi in NASCAR is definitely news. Narain Karthikeyan, who in 2004 became the first driver from India to race in the Formula One world championship, has jotted up another first to his credit. Karthikeyan, who previously has raced in the LeMans series as well for one of the privateer Audi teams, has secured a drive in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, as  Speed TV reported earlier today.

… Narain Karthikeyan «NA-rain kar-thee-KAY-un» will make his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series debut on March 27 in the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway. Karthikeyan, who is India’s first NASCAR driver, will drive the Wyler Racing No. 60 SafeAuto Chevrolet Silverado.

SpeedTV further reports that Karthikeyan will drive the No. 60 Wyler Racing truck in selected races, the schedule for which is due to be announced soon.

Interestingly Starbeast Motorsports, a newly formed company that is supporting Karthikeyan’s drive is attempting to bring NASCAR into the consciousness of motor racing fans in Asia and Narain’s hiring seems to be part of that strategy.

At UberDesi, we have keenly followed Narain’s career from the feeder races to Formula 1 and LeMans. Rest assured that his NASCAR sourjourn will be watched with similar interest and covered in detail here.

All the best, Narain. At least this year, we will be watching the NASCAR Truck series. Do us proud.

Looks like the recession that is hitting India has led to Spice Energy backing out of the sponsorship of A1 Team India.

Neha Rastogi, the spokesperson for Spice Energy was quoted as saying

Spice Energy is temporarily out of handling operations for A1 Team India given the current economic situation. We will look forward to continue our support to the team.

The news is not all bad. Narain Karthikeyan while confirming that things have changed, confirmed that the drivers are staying put

There is a reshuffle in the management but the team will be on the grid with me as lead driver and Armaan (Ebrahim) and Parthiv (Sureshwaran) as backup

Hindustan Times adds a little bit more to the mix, predicting that Narain might step in and buy the team.

Even as A1 GP looks to find another seat holder for the team, which has now changed hands four times in as many seasons, speculation suggests it is likely to be Karthikeyan himself.

This in my personal opinion is a very good thing. Narain is a grat band ambassador and sponsors have always loved him, at least in the Indian market and he is sure to rope in a few good people to support the organization. This will also ensure that his race skills are being put to good use. Almost every F1 driver has a racing team in one league or another. This is true even for people like Tiago Monteiro, who owns a GP2 / F3000 team.

The other front of this drop out is bringing A1 GP to India, for which Spice had done a lot of work, besides which, the article claims that Spice owes Narain a significant sum of money.

We will keep our fingers crossed to see how this plays out.

Narain Karthikeyan might not be racing in F1 anymore, but he still is very popular in India, according to this article by Rediff.

He spoke about a lot of things, but his answer to the most important question, his return to F1 had a very terse response.

Now that Vijay Mallya’s [Images] Force India has severed ties with Ferrari — opting for McLaren instead — does it mean a return to F1 for India’s only driver with that experience? Has he had talks with Force India regarding a comeback?

“No,” said Narain, a one-word answer, sans any explanation, but with enough scope to read between the lines.

But that is Narain Karthikeyan for you — a man of few words, always at his diplomatic best. And lest we forget, he continues to be a show-stopper.

After Narain and Karun, it looks like we have another Indian climbing the rope into international motor sports circles. The Hindu reports that Aditya Patel will race at the Formula BMW Pacific race in the Macau street circuit this weekend.

For Patel, currently placed ninth overall and fourth in the rookie class of the Formula BMW series, it will be a steep learning curve on a circuit that has tested the best of racing drivers.

Of more significance is the fact that Macau Grand Prix is often considered as a stepping stone for young drivers hoping to progress to elite Formula One racing as the event usually attracts talent scouts.

Patel has not had the best season this year.

Patel, in his debut BMW Pacific season, has had an up-and-down outing as he had to overcome a poor start due to his own inexperience as also an ill-handling machine.

And as far as inspiration goes, it is as simple as a phone call for the budding youngster.

Patel said he would be in touch with his mentor Narain Karthikeyan, India’s first F1 driver, for tips on the Guia circuit. Besides Karthikeyan, the other Indian to race in Macau was Karun Chandhok.

We wish him luck and will keep our eyes open to see how his race progresses.