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No plan set for Montoya
By Bob Pockrass
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
DAVID GRIFFIN / NASCAR SCENE
Juan Pablo Montoya is no longer competing in Formula One, but when he will start driving in NASCAR for Chip Ganassi Racing is still to be determined.
Team owner Chip Ganassi said Wednesday he has not received the details of Montoya's release from his McLaren-Mercedes ride in F1, and he does not know when the 30-year-old Colombia will be allowed to test and/or race. The owner said he hoped to have Montoya in a car by the middle of August.
Ganassi said he wished he had longer to get Montoya ready for the 2007 Nextel Cup season in the team's No. 42 Dodge, and he isn't sure yet of which tracks he will race Montoya at first.
Montoya's hiring by Ganassi was announced Sunday, and Montoya was released from his F1 ride Tuesday.
"There's different levels of being released," Ganassi said. "Are you being released fully and completely on day one? ... While he is certainly released, it's probably going to be some sort of conditional release."
Manufacturing differences shouldn't be a hurdle, Montoya notes. "McLaren-Mercedes and Dodge - it's all the same company," he said. "In a way, I'm still part of the family.
Montoya, the 1999 CART champion and 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner, said it's more a matter of getting people in place to work with him at Ganassi, not disrupting the current teams and getting him testing before setting a plan for his debut.
Montoya has never competed in stock cars. He had seven wins in F1 in his five-plus years and finished third in the standings in 2002 and 2003, when he raced for the Williams team.
Montoya has not been on an oval track since 2000, but he said he wasn't eyeing the Busch-Cup weekend at Watkins Glen on Aug. 12-13 for his possible debut.
"Am I thinking about starting early at Watkins Glen? I don't think so.
"The focus of a lot of people are going to be on my first race. For me, it's getting to know the cars, getting ready for next year. What really matters is next year and the season ahead of next year and not this year."
Putting Montoya on a road course is not a priority for Ganassi.
"Road courses are down at the bottom of the list," Ganassi said. "It's about getting to know these cars, getting to understand the nuances of the circuits, getting to understand the differences of a Bristol vs. Richmond vs. Martinsville vs. Charlotte vs. a plate race and what the differences are at the plate races are from Daytona to Talladega.
"The good thing is you're talking about somebody that is used to racing at a high level with a high level of information. There's certainly a lot of information here that is going to be downloaded to Juan in the next six months."
Montoya will let Ganassi set his schedule.
"I'm the rookie here," Montoya said during a conference call with about 90 journalists, which a Dodge represented believed to be the most for a Dodge-coordinated call in the United States. "I have a lot of knowledge and have raced a lot of cars and have a lot of experience in stuff, but the real thing at the moment is it's a new world for me.
"They know it, and I don't. For me, I'm just open to suggestions. ... Where they think is right, I'll be there. It's that simple."
Mentioned Drivers: Juan Pablo Montoya
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