Juan Pablo Montoya, the formula one competitor and former Indianapolis 500 champion is not satisfied with his achievements on this motor sport category, but he is now looking to be part of the NASCAR world.
Montoya made his first test run as a stock car racer Monday 18th at Talladega Super-speedway, in an ARCA car for Chip Ganassi racing with whom he won the 2000 Indy 500 in his first try.
Ganassi wants Montoya to accumulate as many miles as possible this season, he also said that he wants him to compete in ARCA, Busch and Nextel Cup races by the end of the season.
The Colombian driver knows that expectations on him are high, but he said he’s in for the long run.
``It's a long-term deal because it's going to take time, said Montoya who had raced for McLaren. I think a lot of you guys are expecting me to go out and win my very first race. I don't think that's going to happen.'' Montoya said.
Montoya is certainly not the first driver to attempt a transition to NASCAR, as Christian Fittipaldi, Scott Pruett, Max Papis, Jimmy Vasser and most recently, Paul Tracy, all of them with no success, but the Colombian is planning to change the story for good.
Ganassi said that the difference is that this won’t be the ''half-hearted'' effort of some other open wheel drivers who couldn't make a successful transition in NASCAR.
``I'm 100 percent committed to this, and this is the only thing I'm going to be doing, and we're going to need to make this work.'' Montoya said.
Montoya will replace Casey Mears in the No. 42 Dodge next season, trading in the high-tech F1 cars for the less sleek, more blue-collar models.
The former Formula One driver said that a car is a car, no matter what the specifications are, ``It has a steering wheel, four tires, brakes,'' he said.
Juan Pablo Montoya is ready to compete with the big names on NASCAR, and hopefully this will be what the driver expected, as he already parted ways from his lucrative Formula One career.
About the author:
Marshall Smith is an informative writer and specialist in the Football Betting industry who currently comments on the latest events on all major sports
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