Juan Montoya would love nothing more than to start his Nextel Cup career with a win at the Daytona 500. Credit: Autostock

Montoya aims to make name a household one

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- When Formula One legend Michael Schumacher heard Juan Montoya was making a career change to begin driving stock cars in the Nextel Cup series, Schumacher openly wondered why any F1 driver would make such a move.

Well, Montoya has his reasons. And after participating in his first NASCAR event in last year's series finale at Homestead, Montoya believes Schumacher might find making such a transition much more difficult than the retired international driving champion thinks.

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"People don't understand what a big challenge this style of racing is," Montoya said Monday after a Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder test session at Daytona International Speedway. "Michael Schumacher, just take him to Homestead and tell him to stay half-a-second off the pace. He would have a heart attack."

Montoya appears to be approaching his venture into the stock-car world the only way he knows how -- at flat-out, full speed. He admitted it is going to be an adjustment for him to be satisfied with a top-10 finish in a 43-car field on any given day when previously he judged success solely by whether he finished first or not.

Montoya is making the jump to Nextel Cup after driving in the Formula One series from 2001 through last year. He said the Cup series offers certain challenges and triumphs that F1 cannot, but admitted he faces some major adjustments.

"I'm not used to the top 10 being good. You know, in Formula One, you finish fourth and you suck," Montoya said. "You're always going to have that open-wheel mentality. Sure, I need to get to the point where I realize that if we finish in the top 10, that's a good day. But we need to set higher goals, too."

Montoya, in fact, sees a need for speed that sets the bar at the highest of all goals. Montoya is used to driving relentlessly for wins, and said he doesn't intend to change his hard-charging style in NASCAR.

That's why Montoya agreed to drive the No. 42 Dodge for owner Chip Ganassi. He drove for Ganassi previously in the CART Series, when he won a world title at age 24 and in 2000 became the first open-wheel driver in 34 years to win the Indianapolis 500 in his first try.

"I'm not used to the top 10 being good. You know, in Formula One, you finish fourth and you suck. I need to get to the point where I realize that if we finish in the top 10, that's a good day. But we need to set higher goals, too." - Juan Montoya

"We've all got to know why we're here, and we're here to win," Montoya said. "That spirit has to go from the drivers to the team to the owner to the people in the shop to everybody in the show. ... The ultimate goal is winning."

Montoya also has on his resume a win in Formula One's Monte Carlo Grand Prix, which is the premier event in that series. He said winning any event in NASCAR, but especially the season-opening Daytona 500 next month, would rank equal to any of his previous victories.

"To actually come here and win a race would be huge," Montoya said. "I think the history behind Daytona is like the Indianapolis of stock cars. The tradition and everything ... it's a pretty big deal. You'd probably get more fans here every week than you'd get in Formula One."

The native of Bogota, Colombia, has drawn throngs of fans and media attention in every series in which he has competed. Early indications are that NASCAR is not going to be any different, and his new fellow drivers have taken notice of the rock-star aura Montoya, now 32, seems to project.

"Well, from what I understand he's bigger than a rock star in his country. I understand that part of it," Ryan Newman said. "I think he's a very talented driver. Just seeing him, he's got a great character, a great attitude.

"I think he's open to the fact that he's got a huge challenge ahead of him. Just like what he said about Schumacher; you don't just show up and expect to be right there with the guys or ahead of the guys. It's tough. I think he's got a learning curve ahead of him; obviously every rookie does. But I think he's capable of it. If I had to pick a winner of rookie of the year off the top of my head right now, I'd say it would be him."

Montoya said he thinks he knows why he appeals to the masses -- while realizing that not everyone is going to like him or his free-wheeling style.

In four Busch Series races in 2006, Juan Montoya's average finish was 18.2. Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

"I'm a guy that likes driving the wheels off the racecar," Montoya said. "I'll race hard. I'll have a little respect for the guys I'm racing against, and I think the fans will like that. I think we're going to see a lot of, 'Oh, yeah, he's nice.' You're going to see some fans that think it's a great thing and some other good ol' boys that say, 'We don't want you.'"

Either way, Montoya said it is his intention to stick around. He likens his jump from Formula One to Nextel Cup to the earlier career change when he left CART to go to F1.

"Everything was different; the cars, technology. Everything changed," Montoya said. "Here it's the same thing. It's a tough challenge, but it's exciting. When things are bad, they're really bad -- but you've got the tools to make it better.

"In Formula One, you tune the car but there are so few things you can do mechanically to make it better. If you've got a car that's quick enough for fifth place, even if you make it great you're going to finish fourth. You ain't going to win with that car. There's no way on this planet you're going to win unless something major happens.

"In a normal race, the guy that is fourth is going to pull away from you and the guy that is sixth is going to pull in behind you. And you're going to pound around for 60 laps by yourself."

That is not going to happen in Cup racing. With proper equipment and adjustments, cars can get better as the day goes along and in Montoya's eyes, that means he frequently can put himself in position to run up front.

And if he wins enough races, who knows? He eventually might become more of a world-wide household racing name than Michael Schumacher himself.

"Schumacher in America is nobody. It's true," Montoya said. "People who are really, really fans of racing, they know who Schumacher is -- but there are people here in this state [Florida] who wouldn't know who he is. Not fans. Here, everybody in the nation has heard of [Dale] Earnhardt. What Earnhardt is in America, probably Schumacher was in Europe.''

If the brash Juan Montoya can be as successful as he intends in his new venture, perhaps his name could be on their lips next.