Jacques Villeneuve has admitted that he probably made a mistake in trying to break into NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series as early as he did, but insists that he has not given up on making it in the category and revealed that he is already working towards a return.
The Canadian made sporadic Craftsman Truck outings as a build-up to even rarer Cup races in 2007, but failed to make it through the Gatorade Duels at Daytona a fortnight ago, and promptly lost his ride at Bill Davis Racing after failing to land a sponsor for the remainder of the season. Having already split with long-time manager Craig Pollock, he has now persuaded his former Champ Car boss, Barry Green, to help in the quest for finance with an eye on returning to the Cup Series later in the year.
"We're trying to raise the cash to get racing," Villeneuve told SPEED TV's
Wind Tunnel programme, "I got on my own about a month ago and figured out everything wasn't as advanced as I had been told. I picked up the pieces and tried to get going again.
"The plan was to have been
Daytona. That's why I was racing at the end of last year. In my mind, there was no reason I shouldn't have been at Daytona, so I just went along without really being ready. Now, I just have to take a step back and start from zero and build the whole programme. Hopefully, it will happen soon."
The 1997
F1 world champion admitted that rumours surrounding Pollock's involvement and intentions - including buying a team for his protégé to race in - were far from having any clear foundation.
"I'm not sure because I wasn't actually involved and had no idea what was going on," he confessed, "I was just told that I would be racing and everything would be organised. Then I guess it wasn't.
"Once I found out and got on my own, there were a lot of things to do and I had to get going. There was a good year lost with all that, but at least I got some experience in a few races last year and learned about NASCAR, learned about the other drivers and made friends. That was also very important."
![Jacques Villeneuve - Peugeot Sport [Pic credit: Peugeot Sport]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/283682.jpg)
