Montoya Ready for NASCAR Debut

Juan Pablo Montoya's vacation is over. The Colombian will start his NASCAR career on Alabama's Talladega Superspeedway track next month. Montoya is likely to make his debut on the same track that he ran tests this Monday. Although he could have started his new racing adventure a lot sooner, Montoya asked for more time to prepare from Ganassi's team officials.

"I think a lot of you are expecting me to win my very first race, but I don't think that's going to happen. It's going to take time. It was

like 'Oh, my God'. I came out of the pits and went full throttle. It felt quick", said the Colombian after his first testing day with Ganassi.

Still, he wanted to assure his fans that NASCAR will take all his time for the future, since he's aiming to make it work: "I'm 100% committed to this, and this is the only thing I'm going to be doing. I think you have to have a very open mind about it. It's going to be difficult and it's going to be a challenge".

Although he left McLaren Mercedes in July, the Colombian was not given permission to test for Ganassi. The reason is very simple. Mercedes refused to release Montoya of his contract. Therefore, despite Pedro de la Rosa being allowed to replace him in Formula One, the Colombian was still under contract with Ron Dennis.

Once the deal was terminated, Montoya can focus on NASCAR. The Colombian failed to make a great impression in Formula One, never being able to challenge Michael Schumacher or Fernando Alonso for the world title.

His debut in the Great Circle happened under Frank Williams' guidance, along with teammate Ralf Schumacher. After a few seasons with BMW, Montoya switched to Mercedes, but was unable to keep peace with teammate Kimi Raikkonen. The Colombian finally decided to look elsewhere for success, and signed a deal with NASCAR team Genassi.