Villeneuve avoided trouble at Talladega

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – When Juan Pablo Montoya made the jump from Formula One to NASCAR, his move was met with anticipation.

Jacques Villeneuve hasn’t been received quite the same way. The former world champion was criticized – even vilified – for choosing Talladega Superspeedway for his Nextel Cup debut.

Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon led the charge and ignited a unified cry across the garage that NASCAR’s biggest and fastest track was not the appropriate place for any driver to make his first start.

The drafting is difficult, the racing intense and the added unknowns from running the Car of Tomorrow in its first restrictor-plate race made Talladega a peculiar place for Villeneuve to debut, many drivers and team members felt.

“I don’t care if you are Michael Schumacher, Jacques Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti or the greatest driver on the planet – you should not be running your first race this weekend,” Gordon said before Sunday’s race.

And when Villeneuve qualified sixth, putting him up front at the start, the 12 drivers competing for the Nextel Cup title couldn’t help but worry that inexperience in the art of bump-drafting would surely cause Villeneuve to trigger a massive pileup that would wreak havoc on the Chase for the championship.

Villeneuve never flinched, insisting his credentials and race savvy earned him the right to race at Talladega.

Then he went out and proved it.

Villeneuve ran a clean race, and opened it with the classy decision to voluntarily get out of the way by dropping to the back of the field before the green flag. He didn’t cause any wrecks, didn’t affect the Chase and spent the 500 miles learning as much as he could.

And when Gordon collected the 12th plate-race win of his career, Villeneuve wasn’t far behind – a respectable 21st, on the lead lap – and forced Gordon to give him a favorable assessment.

“The fact that he didn’t run into anything and that he had a clean race and finished on the lead lap says a lot,” Gordon said. “I’m glad he was here and he got to run here. I hope he got to mix it up there at the end to see what it’s really like and got this experience.”

That’s all Villeneuve wanted, a chance to get some laps before he attempts to run a full Nextel Cup schedule next season. He was self-deprecating during the tense buildup to the race, joking that the attacks paled in comparison to the cutthroat dealings of European racing.

“I’ve always tried to race intelligently,” he said. “I am not here trying to be a hero. I don’t have any points, I am not in it for any championship. All I want to do is get the mileage.

“The finger was being pointed a little bit before the race, understandably,” Villeneuve said. “The goal was just to stay out of trouble and not make enemies. Deep down, I’m sure they knew I wouldn’t do anything stupid.”