Montoya Adjusting - NASCAR Racing News, Tips And Picks

Montoya Adjusting
By Brit Fryer
Posted: 5:00 am PDT 2007-01-24

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Dover and Darlington are a long way from Monaco and Malaysia. Ask Juan Pablo Montoya, who's finally beginning to get a handle on just how different NASCAR really is from Formula One.

"At the beginning, it was hard," the Colombian said of communicating with crew chief Donnie Wingo. "Donnie's accent is way over. In the beginning it was like, 'Can you repeat?' Today, it happened. I wanted to know how long was the line. I said, 'How long is the queue?' The spotter said, 'You've said that before. I know what you mean now.'

"It's just different."

Since last July's announcement that Montoya would be reuniting with car owner Chip Ganassi in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series, Montoya, 31, has done all he can to become fluent in the language of stock-car racing.

"I'm very picky with the way I want the car, and I think Donnie understands that," Montoya said earlier this week during preseason testing at Daytona International Speedway. "I work on it (vocabulary) really hard. I think the better you make the car the better the year is going to be.

"You learn that a lot in F-1. Sometimes your car is not great, but the better your car will drive the easier your day is going to be."

For now, Montoya is just trying to learn the ways of NASCAR racing -- everything from a demanding travel schedule to far different machinery.

The 3,400-pound No. 42 Havoline Dodge is much heavier and bulkier than the Earth-bound fighter planes he piloted across the pond in Formula One.

Montoya, who is +$4000 to win the Nextel Cup points title on WagerWeb.com, was15th-fastest during the second week of testing. But in NASCAR, teams can improve the car with adjustments, and a driver can, as they say, get up
on the wheel to find a little extra speed.

It's all part of the communication process, the driver relaying information and feedback to the crew chief.

"It's probably as big of a challenge when I went from CART to Formula One," said Montoya, the 1999 CART champion and winner of the 2000 Indianapolis 500. "Everything was different ? the cars, technology, everything changed. Here it's the same thing. When things are bad, they're really bad but you've got tools to make it better. In Formula One, you tune the car but there's so few things you can do mechanically to make the car better."

Though he has started only one Nextel Cup race -- he debut came in the Homestead finale last November -- Montoya already has quite the following. He even has his own posse, dubbed the "Juan-tourage."

"I think a lot of the guys that followed me in open wheel are really interested in seeing how I do," Montoya said. "I have a couple of guys in Miami say, 'It was great when you won Indy. I really followed your career then and it's great to see you back here.' It really shows how big NASCAR and how big this deal is.

"I'm a guy that likes driving the wheels off the race car. I'll race hard. I'll have a little respect for the guys I'm racing against, and I think the fans will like that. I think we're going to see a lot of 'Oh yeah, he's nice.' You're going to see some fans that think it's a great thing and some other good ol' boys that say, 'We don't want you.' "

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