Friday, October 20, 2006

Juan Pablo Update

JPM has expressed pleasant surprise that he can actually talk to other drivers in the garage area--they just don't do that in Europe. Nor do they compare notes. His main reason for coming to NASCAR was that he wanted to get back into "real racing." The following is from USA Today:

By A.J. Perez, USA TODAY
Something just wasn't right as Juan Pablo
Montoya turned his first official laps in a NASCAR Nextel Cup car this week at
Homestead-Miami Speedway.
"(Kevin) Harvick came to the team. He said, 'You
know, looking at the car from behind, I think the car is too low on the left,' "
Montoya relayed in a teleconference Wednesday. "He said, 'I think you should try
this here, do that.' "
So much for whether the Formula One-turned-NASCAR
driver at Chip Ganassi Racing would be accepted. The 31-year-old Colombian
already has spent time with Cup drivers off the track, and they've proved to be
equally as friendly on it.
"We don't do that in Europe. If you see somebody
struggling in Formula One, you never going to go and say, 'You're making this
wrong.' You actually go to your guys, and you say, 'You see what they're doing
wrong,' " Montoya said with a chuckle.
Montoya will make his NASCAR debut in
a Busch Series car Oct. 28 at Memphis Motorsports Park, which wouldn't be his
first choice.
"If I had to pick to say where I wanted to do my first Busch
race, I wouldn't pick that one," said Montoya, who has run two ARCA races in
recent weeks, of the tricky track.

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