All eyes will be on Jacques Villeneuve when he attempts to qualify for the UAW-Ford 500 today.
If he makes the field, even more eyes will be on the Canadian driver in the Talladega Superspeedway draft on Sunday.
Villeneuve’s qualifying attempt is historic because he was once, in 1997, considered the best driver in the world. That’s the reason Formula One calls its best the World Driving Champion. But that was 10 years ago. Villeneuve has done precious little since. NASCAR marks a new career path. Monte Dutton, GastonGazette
It had the makings of a heated controversy, but Jacques Villeneuve wasn’t playing.
Villeneuve, the 1995 Indianapolis 500 winner and 1997 Formula One world champion, insisted Friday he wasn’t insulted by comments from Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and others saying that NASCAR should not have approved him to make his Nextel Cup debut this weekend at Talladega.
‘I would have said the same thing,’ a relaxed and confident-sounding Villeneuve said outside his hauler. ‘I would have expected worse in Europe, for example. So that’s no big deal. It’s natural. It wasn’t bad or mean or anything.’ The Tampa Tribune
None of that has anything to do with his unpopularity. Jacques Villeneuve is unpopular because his peers don’t really view him as a peer. Not on the high banks of NASCAR’s most eccentric racetrack.
Here, they consider him a health risk.
He will also be surrounded by a pack of 12 drivers who are in contention for this year’s championship and cannot afford to be wrecked by rookie moves.
Drivers let him know all about that on Friday.
Asked whether he will be nervous racing with Villeneuve, veteran Cup driver Jeff Burton said, “The answer is probably yes.”
Some drivers wondered why NASCAR would allow Villeneuve to race at Talladega in a Cup car. JIM PEDLEY, The Kansas City Star
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