Looks Like Montoya is Driving NASCAR Next year (Cup)

[davidan]

Check this out
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Montoya to NASCAR? #42?: Another big F1 name which very recently surfaced in regard to a possible American move is former open wheel champion and Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya, who likely is losing his F1 ride with the Mercedes-McLaren team at the end of this season. In the past few weeks, Montoya's name has been linked to his old boss, Chip Ganassi, who last month told Autosport magazine, "I'd love to have Montoya back. I'd take him in a second," a comment which many had interpreted as having the Colombian take a seat in one of Ganassi's IRL cars. However, according to sources close to Montoya, what the 31-year-old former CART champion really is interested in is Ganassi's soon-to-be vacant #42 Nextel Cup car. Despite never having competed in a Cup car, Montoya did spend some time behind the wheel of Jeff Gordon's Monte Carlo in June 2003. Most observers agree that Montoya did a fine job his first time in a stock car, although he did misjudge the braking power of the much-heavier stock car and overshot the first turn. He went on to run six laps at full speed. Last weekend at the U.S. Grand Prix, Montoya was part of a press conference with DaimlerChrysler chairman Dr. Dieter Zetsche [Ask Dr Z], his current boss Ron Dennis and NASCAR team owner Ray Evernham, who helped usher Dodge back into NASCAR. DaimlerChrysler is the manufacturer of both the Dodge and Mercedes Benz brands, and Ganassi, of course, runs Dodges in Nextel Cup. Although staged during the F1 race weekend, the press event was designed to reaffirm DaimlerChrysler's commitment to motorsports and specifically to NASCAR, which it recently has been rumored to be leaving. However, it also provided an excellent opportunity for Montoya to be reintroduced to the American press and linked to NASCAR, as well as to be embraced by DaimlerChrysler's top execs. They see Montoya as a strong link between their company and the Latino audience, especially in regard to a series like Nextel Cup. Should Montoya take up residence with Ganassi's NASCAR team, he would replace another former open wheel racer in Casey Mears, who heads to Hendrick Motorsports next season.(in part from Yahoo Sports)
MORE: been told that Montoya has been signed by Ganassi to take over the #42 Dodge in 2007 and will run a few Busch Series races this year.(7-9-2006)

[davidan]

This was made official today at Chicagoland Speedway in a Pre race Conference. Pretty big news in my opinion for NASCAR.

[davidan]

Montoya Schedule? BUT: no word when Juan Pablo Montoya will run his first race [Watkins Glen? MIS? Calif] but been told he will run in a combined 22 events, scattered thruout Nextel Cup, Busch and ARCA.
BUT: McLaren boss Ron Dennis has made it very clear that Juan Pablo Montoya will not be able to drive a Dodge Nextel Cup car for Chip Ganassi until the end of his contract at the end of the year – unless a financial deal of some kind is made in the interim. There is a DaimlerChrysler link between the two camps, but that does not seem to have helped smooth the waters. “He is a contracted McLaren driver and it will stay that way until the end of his contract unless there is some other commercial arrangement between ourselves and the NASCAR team, or Juan himself,” Dennis said Friday at the French Grand Prix. He added that Montoya would not be allowed to test for Ganassi this year, and that the contract extended beyond the end of the racing season. “There is a conflict of sponsors, advertising campaigns and a whole raft or reasons why that is not a practical proposition.”(Speed Channel site)(7-14-2006)