Drivers welcome addition of F-1 driver Montoya

LOUDON, N.H. – The response to having Formula-1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, a former Indy 500 winner (2000) and 1999 CART points champion, join the Nextel Cup series next season has been positive among NASCAR drivers. The rumor that IRL driver Danica Patrick is also considering Nextel Cup was also met with a positive response.

Montoya is currently sixth in F-1 points.

“It’s good,” said veteran Nextel Cup driver and 2000 Busch series champion Jeff Green. “It shows how cool and big our sport is for people like Montoya and Danica Patrick to look at it. Montoya will be like a fish out of water at first but he’s a smart race car driver. He’ll be able to figure it out.

“And any time a female comes into it, it helps. There haven’t been a lot of opportunities for females to be in the Cup series and be successful. Hopefully, that will work out for her,” said Green.

Former Nextel Cup great and current TV analyst Benny Parsons said Montoya will “bring a great deal to the series. I’m of the opinion he’a a very qualified race car driver. He has won at every level and he’ll run up front. That’s what we’ve got to have. We can’t survive off hype. Montoya coming in is a big deal and we’ve gotten a lot of press out of it. But once he starts driving, that’s going to be a big deal. However, six months into it, if he’s back in 30th position, we’ll forget about it. And we can’t do that.

“Same thing with Danica or anybody who comes in. They’ve got to run up front pretty quickly.”

He said to have drivers from other series looking at Nextel Cup is satisfying.

“All these years, people laughed at stock car racing. They aren’t laughing any more.”

Team owner Bill Davis said having Montoya and, possibly, Patrick in the sport “would be great for it.

“It’ll bring a lot of international attention to the sport and a lot of credibility. It makes a lot of sense for the sport,” said Davis.

He said Patrick has put IRL “back on the map the last couple of years. She has certainly proven to be the top female talent that we’ve had [in racing]. It’ll be a big challenge for her to come over. It’ll be a big challenge for both of them. But they’re awfully talent and can probably make the adjustment.”

Jack Roush isn’t sure Montoya is going to have a lot of success early.

“I suspect he won’t be able to but it will be very interesting,” said Roush.