Openwheel drivers to NASCAR

[dwboogityfan]

This is more great news for NASCAR in my opinion. Villeneuve will add further international credibility to the series and gain more press coverage. He was always interesting in F1 - and his no-nonsense style will likely make him someone NASCAR fans love to hate (kind of like JPM). My only worry is that #36 has been poor this season and of NASCAR continues the top 35 rule into 2008 he will struggle to make races.

[Spotter]

This is more great news for NASCAR in my opinion...

Great News, JV and Monty against the Nascar Stars !!!

Greetings from Heidelberg, Germany.

Spotter

[RaikkonenRules]

Bill Davis Racing plans to field a full-time Sprint Cup entry for former Formula One world champion Jacques Villeneuve in 2008, team owner Bill Davis said Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway. Davis said the plan right now is to run Villeneuve in the #22 Craftsman Truck Series entry later this season, as well as test the Car of Tomorrow. BDR will also field a car for Villeneuve in the ARCA race at Talladega in October in preparation for the Daytona 500 in 2008, Davis said. Then? "And then we'll go Cup racing next year," Davis said. Davis said that Villeneuve's jump to Cup doesn't necessarily mean he'll be in the #36 Toyota and that a three-car team "is a possibility." Veteran Nextel Cup crew chief Slugger Labbe will lead Villeneuve's team, Davis said. Villeneuve will debut in NASCAR during a CTS test at Chicagoland Speedway on Monday. The hope right now is debut him in a CTS race next month in Las Vegas. "It is an experiment, if you will," Davis said. "But he's pretty confident he can do it, and we are, too. I think it'll work out just fine.

If all goes according to plan, 1997 Formula 1 World Driving Champion and 1995 Indianapolis 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve will replace #36-Jeremy Mayfield next year in a Bill Davis Racing Nextel Cup Toyota. Team General Manager Mike Brown said over the next six weeks, Villeneuve will undergo an intensive testing program that will include seat time in a Craftsman Truck Series entry and possibly an ARCA car at Talladega Superspeedway in October. “That’s what we hope to do, that’s what he feels like he’d like to do,” Brown said when asked if Villeneuve would drive a BDR Cup car next season. “Obviously, the whole NASCAR program is new to him, so we’re going to put together an aggressive test program for him. The truck … is much like the COT car we’ll be racing next year. Obviously, he’s got to go through the validation process with NASCAR, so we’re looking at places we can go run him in trucks, maybe in the ARCA series … an aggressive test program, not only with the trucks, but with the COT cars … Kentucky (Speedway), all the different places we can go to.” Brown said sponsor 360 OTC likely will not be back with BDR next season

jayski.com

[SmokeFan20]

I always liked JV.
He is pretty underrated.
He won the PPG ICWS/CART Championship & Indianapolis 500 when they were both at there most competitive state.
And he won the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.
His biggest mistake that hurt his career was signing with BAR Honda.
They may have offered him the money, but they didn't offer him a competitive car.
After after a few years of running at the middle and back of the pack with BAR, the front running teams wanted nothing to do with him.

[Jonesi]

The only way I see this happening so fast is JV has a sponsor lined up / interested.
Also he didn't seem so interested in Nascar, with "maybe it's something I'd like to do" quotes. I wonder if the success of the Busch race in Montreal earlier this month had anything to do with motivating him? ;-)

[geek49203]

I always liked JV.
He is pretty underrated.
He won the PPG ICWS/CART Championship & Indianapolis 500 when they were both at there most competitive state.
And he won the Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.
His biggest mistake that hurt his career was signing with BAR Honda.
They may have offered him the money, but they didn't offer him a competitive car.
After after a few years of running at the middle and back of the pack with BAR, the front running teams wanted nothing to do with him.

I suspect that he became personna non grata due to his personality too. It happens.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Not only are many of the skills needed in NASCAR the exact opposite of those learned in open-wheeled racing, but the open wheel guys struggle the first time they reach for a weight jacker and it's not there.

On top of that, a F1 car doesn't rely on the driver for input on the performance of the car, since they have bazillion-dollar telemetry systems. Although some teams use those in testing, as well as chassis simulation programs, the series still relies heavily on the driver working with the crew chief via good old-fashioned talking.

JV has one advantage though that most OW guys don't, in that he has won on ovals in open wheel. Like JPM, he has won the Indy 500, and when JV went to f1, he took a lot of the oval racing mentality with him when it came to setups. His pass where he went around the outside of Schuy in Estoril was because he set the car up like he was racing on an oval to take advantage of that one corner. He isn't afraid to try new things or learn, and I think he can make the adjustment. The key for any of these guys is to be able to have the time and luxury of working with a team who are patient to learn.

[Mark in Oshawa]

JV wants to race again, and f1 is out, and CCWS is someplace he wont be bothered with. The IRL has never asked and JV isn't going to go there and run ovals for a nickel when he can go to NASCAR and get a whole dollar.

If Bill Davis Racing puts him in the car for the next season full time, I will be thrilled as a Canadian fan and a fan of JV, but I doubt it will be an easy season. Jacques is gonna find out that this playground has lots of tough nasty people who wont have a problem with knocking him around, so I hope he goes into the corners "Elbows up" as we say in hockey......

[JasonD]

The only way I see this happening so fast is JV has a sponsor lined up / interested.
Also he didn't seem so interested in Nascar, with "maybe it's something I'd like to do" quotes. I wonder if the success of the Busch race in Montreal earlier this month had anything to do with motivating him? ;-)

Hes been making a run to get into NASCAR for over a year now and has talked to several team owners. His comment was from quite a while ago. JV sees that NASCAR is a great opportunity and thinks he go do well going against the best in oval racing.

[harvick#1]

looks like BDR will get a few more Sundays off now with the 36 team :