Jacques Villeneuve's performances in testing and on his maiden Craftsman Truck outing in Las Vegas last weekend have prompted the Canadian and Bill Davis Racing to ramp up his route to the Nextel Cup.
Despite having just that one Truck outing under his belt, Villeneuve will attempt to make the field at next weekend's UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega. He already has the approval of NASCAR having successfully conducted the recent Car of Tomorrow test at the Alabama circuit - "our resume committee has looked at Villeneuve, his history and his experience, and made the decision to approve him to race at Talladega," series spokesman Ramsey Poston wrote on the series website - while crew chief Richard Labbe reckons there will be nothing to hold the Canadian back except for the fact that he has to qualify on pace alone..
"Jacques ran a lot of laps in the CoT test at Talladega, he ran well in the draft, earned a lot of respect and didn't make anybody mad," Labbe commented, "I'm really glad to see new blood coming into the sport, and I'm glad to be a part of it."
Villeneuve is expected to gain extra Talladega mileage by running in the weekend's Truck event, but the 1997
F1 world champion is already anticipating the first step towards a full-time Cup campaign in 2008.
"I'm really happy that NASCAR has given me its approval so quickly and, having run Talladega with the Cup drivers, I'm really looking forward to it," Villeneuve said in a Bill Davis Racing statement, "It's a huge step in my learning process, and I'm realistic in my expectations. Every one of those guys is quick, and all the teams are good, too. NASCAR, and in particular [the] COT has been fun so far, and I hope that doesn't change in front of that big Talladega crowd."
