Michel Jourdain Jr.: "I want to be in the top 30 in points after the first five races so I have the guaranteed spot, but the thing I need most is laps." Credit: David Allio

Open-wheeler Jourdain adjusting to stock cars

LAS VEGAS -- Through several days of Busch Series testing and one NASCAR West Series race, former Champ Car star Michel Jourdain Jr. sees one similarity between driving an open-wheel car and piloting a stock car.

"The only thing that is similar is that you turn left," he said. "That's the only thing that's the same."

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Jourdain, who amassed two wins, 20 top-fives and 25 top-10s in 152 Champ Car starts, is scheduled to run the full 2005 Busch Series season for ppc Racing.

After running some test laps at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Wednesday, Jordain said that running a stock car makes him feel like a rookie, even at tracks on which he has experience.

"When we ran the Champ Cars here, you would just run wide-open all the time," he said. "Here, I have to brake. I feel like a first-timer. Everything is so different. The cars are so heavy, there's no downforce.

"It's more or less what I expected."

Jourdain says he's getting plenty of help from his spotter, Andy Houston.

"Every time I do something, he tells me why and he tells me what to expect," he said. "It's just getting used to how the car wants to be driven."

The knowledge paid early dividends for Jourdain last weekend when he finished sixth in the NASCAR West Series season opener in Phoenix.

"It was a good result," he said. "I was not expecting anything, but at the end, you always want more.

Michel Jourdain Jr.

"I didn't make any big mistakes and that's what I wanted and that's what I want in the first race in the Busch Series, as well."

As his first full stock car season looms, Jourdain contends that he's not entering the campaign with very few expectations.

"Let's see how it starts," Jourdain said. "I want to be in the top 30 in points after the first five races so I have the guaranteed spot, but the thing I need most is laps."

There is however, one race that is circled on Jourdain's schedule -- the Mexico 200 on March 6 in his hometown of Mexico City.

"That helped me make the decision to come over," he said. "I started talking to NASCAR teams in 2002 but at that time there was no race in Mexico. Jimmy (Vasser) was telling me I should make the move and that they were looking for a good Hispanic driver.

"But that was why I stayed with Champ Car last year and didn't go over to the IRL. It's important for me to race in Mexico."

Jourdain says he's not scared off by the struggles that fellow open-wheel star Christian Fittipaldi had driving for Petty Enterprises in the Cup series in 2002-03.

"He told me if I have the chance, I should take it. He's not here, (NASCAR), but it's not because of lack of talent. I don't think he had the right equipment.

"I think me coming with ppc, which is a stronger team with the support of Ford, I think I have the chance of making it."