Not everyone cut out for Sprint Cup

Juan Pablo Montoya admits switch to NASCAR was difficult.

By JON CULLIMORE
ITJ

6/24/2008

Blame it on the talented Colombian. He made everybody think any driver with a reasonable amount of talent could jump into a stock car and succeed. But since the first of the season, one thing has become painfully clear. Juan Pablo Montoya is the exception and not the rule to open-wheelers moving into NASCAR. Four top-notch drivers followed him this season, and in spite of their volumes of talent in their previous divisions, have struggled terribly so this season.

Of course, Montoya warned Patrick Carpentier, Dario Franchitti, Sam Hornish Jr. and Jacques Villeneuve were not going to have an easy time wrestling the full-bodied, 3,400-lb. machines. Despite his decent results, this former Formula One star never shied away from admitting the switch to NASCAR was the hardest transition he had ever made.

Like all valuable lessons, the others learned the hard way just how serious he was.

“I didn’t expect it to be easy by any stretch, but it’s even more difficult than I thought,” said Franchitti, Montoya’s teammate at Chip Ganassi Racing.

The attention Montoya received last season while winning Rookie of the Year, a Cup race and a Nationwide race made the venture look promising for anyone seeking a fresh start away from the limits of open-wheel. While no one expected the newcomers to match Montoya’s success, no one expected them to struggle as much as they have, either.

Villeneuve’s venture didn’t make it past the season-opening Daytona 500. When the former F1 world champion failed to make the race, he high tailed it home to Montreal days before the event. A lack of sponsorship pushed him out of the Bill Davis Racing ride he had planned to pilot, and the team has since ceased operations on the No. 27 Toyota.

Carpentier, another Canadian who raced in both Champ Cars and the Indy Racing League, has a solid team and sponsorship but can’t make races. He’s qualified for just two events, a best finish of 35th in Atlanta and is 46th in points.

Franchitti went to Martinsville Speedway ranked 38th in points and in danger of not making the field for the first time this season. He started the year inside the top 35, which guaranteed a starting position, but the field reset in late March. He’s now on the outside looking in.

If Franchitti’s finishes don’t improve, the news will get worse for the reigning Indianapolis 500 and IRL champ. He doesn’t have full season sponsorship yet and missing races would certainly curtail any potential suitors.

That makes Hornish the best of the group, and he’s clinging to 35th place in the standings. The three-time IRL champion opened the season strong with a 15th-place run in Daytona. But it’s been downhill from there. A 25th in Atlanta has been his best showing since.

Hornish did say this season would be a building year, and that NASCAR was a natural move, since he had little left to accomplish in open wheel.

“I didn’t feel open wheel was challenging me enough,” he said. “I knew how difficult this was going to be, and I knew I’d look back at my career, and if I didn’t do this, I was going to wonder ‘Could you have made it and gotten to the point of being successful?’ I knew it was going to be difficult. That’s why I did it.”

Of course, we have to remember that in spite of their previous successes, they are still rookies in NASCAR. They have spent their careers to date racing cars that were faster, lighter and much more aerodynamically stable than stock cars. They haven’t progressed through the ranks and spent years in the Nationwide Series. These guys were open-wheel racers. They have to relearn how to race, and that may not be possible for all of them.

Montoya’s rookie season raised people’s expectations. Even car owner Chip Ganassi bought into the hype when he said this season was “Chase or bust” for his star driver.

Although Ganassi later down-played the expectations, many still believed Montoya would be a legitimate threat to win on an oval and perhaps qualify for the 12-driver Chase.

But through the first five races, Montoya’s found himself 19th in the standings and still searching for a top 10. Even worse, the places he should have contended, fast tracks such as California, Las Vegas and Atlanta, were not kind to him.

No one doubts his skill level, but some wonder if the Ganassi equipment is meeting his needs. Aside from Reed Sorenson’s strong showing in Daytona, none of the three Ganassi cars have shown the same improvement the other Dodge teams have made this season.

But Montoya is not pointing fingers. “We’re trying as hard as we can,” he said. “It’s not like I can be upset and say ‘We’re not giving 100 percent’ or ‘We’re not doing everything we can.’ I know that the entire team is doing everything in its power and all we can do is keep trying.”