Piquet switching to NASCAR

Former Renault Formula One driver

Nelson Piquet Jr.,

who last year triggered a scandal by revealing he deliberately crashed his car to help a teammate, is moving to NASCAR in 2010.

Piquet said yesterday on his Web site that his "first 18 months in F1 did not go as planned. I have decided to focus on something different and have chosen to take a route in America."

Piquet hasn't raced since being fired by Renault in August after 28 races in which his best finish was second at the 2008 German GP. He did not reveal which team he would race for but says more details will come soon.

The 24-year-old Brazilian driver, the son of three-time F1 champion Nelson Piquet, admitted crashing his car at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix on team orders to help Fernando Alonso win the race.

He retired from 11 races and constantly accused the French team of favoring teammate Alonso.

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