Goodfellas
06-27-2009, 07:23 AM
LOUDON, N.H. (AP) -- Juan Pablo Montoya offered some friendly advice to IndyCar star Danica Patrick, a free agent who could possibly opt to jump to NASCAR in 2010.
"I think she's got the talent and everything, but I don't think she knows what she's getting into,'' Montoya said when asked how Patrick would do if she made the move from open-wheel racing to stock cars, as he has done.
The Colombian driver, a former CART series champion, Indianapolis 500 winner and Formula One star, wasn't referring to the media circus that such a move by racing's glamour girl would create.
"(The cars are) so different to drive,'' the Sprint Cup driver said Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "It's not the same feeling. When you drive an open-wheel car on an oval, you have the grip, you turn the wheel and it turns, you get on it and it goes and you get on the brakes and it stops.
"This (type of racing), it goes more with the momentum. You've got to give time to the car and you've got to get used to the feeling that you've got to go fast when the car doesn't feel right.''
Montoya, having his best season since moving from F1 to NASCAR in 2006, said getting used to 3,450-pound stock cars after driving the much lighter and nimbler open-wheel cars is a challenging and sometimes frustrating chore.
"With time actually it becomes kind of normal,'' he said. "Like for me driving the Cup car now it's normal. I've finally got to a point where I go every week and I'm not surprised, it doesn't feel weird, it doesn't surprise me ... and that takes a long time.
"If she comes, I'm sure she can do it. But it doesn't matter if you come to a winning team or anything, it's going to take time.''
Patrick has said she doesn't plan to make any announcements until after the IndyCar season ends in October.
"That's for after the season and we'll worry about it then,'' she said last week.
"I think she's got the talent and everything, but I don't think she knows what she's getting into,'' Montoya said when asked how Patrick would do if she made the move from open-wheel racing to stock cars, as he has done.
The Colombian driver, a former CART series champion, Indianapolis 500 winner and Formula One star, wasn't referring to the media circus that such a move by racing's glamour girl would create.
"(The cars are) so different to drive,'' the Sprint Cup driver said Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "It's not the same feeling. When you drive an open-wheel car on an oval, you have the grip, you turn the wheel and it turns, you get on it and it goes and you get on the brakes and it stops.
"This (type of racing), it goes more with the momentum. You've got to give time to the car and you've got to get used to the feeling that you've got to go fast when the car doesn't feel right.''
Montoya, having his best season since moving from F1 to NASCAR in 2006, said getting used to 3,450-pound stock cars after driving the much lighter and nimbler open-wheel cars is a challenging and sometimes frustrating chore.
"With time actually it becomes kind of normal,'' he said. "Like for me driving the Cup car now it's normal. I've finally got to a point where I go every week and I'm not surprised, it doesn't feel weird, it doesn't surprise me ... and that takes a long time.
"If she comes, I'm sure she can do it. But it doesn't matter if you come to a winning team or anything, it's going to take time.''
Patrick has said she doesn't plan to make any announcements until after the IndyCar season ends in October.
"That's for after the season and we'll worry about it then,'' she said last week.