Villeneuve joins Bill Davis Racing

Bill Davis has confirmed that Jacques Villeneuve will racing for Bill Davis Racing next year in the NASCAR Nextel Cup and may even make his appearance in a Bill Davis Toyota Camry before the end of the 2007 season.

Villeneuve yesterday announced that he will test a Bill Davis Craftsman Truck Series truck at Chicagoland on Monday and Davis confirmed today that he will take part in his first Truck Series race at Las Vegas. In addition to this, Villeneuve will run 6 more Truck races, one ARCA event at Talladega, and has the possibility of running a Nextel Cup event before the year is out.

[theracingline.net]

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Good to see him still racing, though, i would have prefered my old hero not to be in a stock car, but if it makes him happy and if its want he wants to do then its all good

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Would have preffered to see him take up sportscars full time, but like chet says, if hes happy then that's good.

And it''l be good to see him teach JPM how to drive

Qualified 7th, got involved in an accident when a truck bobbled infront of him, eventually recovered to 21st place with some pretty substantial damage to the left front.

Solid debut.

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Jacques is making his NASCAR Nextel Cup Debut next weekend at the 200mph Talladega Superspeedway, and not everyone thinks it's a good idea...

Jeff Gordon thinks it's a big mistake for former Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve to attempt to make his Nextel Cup debut next week at Talladega Superspeedway. "I love Jacques, but that's not the right decision to make," Gordon said Friday. "I didn't think it was the right decision last year for David Gilliland, either. Nothing against their talent or anything else, but that race in the Chase? Why? If you want to run a race, go to Atlanta or another 1.5-mile oval." Gordon said he was surprised NASCAR gave it approval for Villeneuve to debut on the giant 2.6-mile oval.

Kyle Busch was shocked to learn that former Formula 1 and CART champion Jacques Villeneuve will attempt to make his Nextel Cup debut next weekend at Talladega. "He's doing what? Holy cow, that's not good," Busch said when asked for his reaction to Villeneuve racing at Talladega. "You've got to start somewhere but the Cup Series at Talladega definitely isn't the place to start."

lol@ holy cow.

howcome its such a bad idea, fastfasttt track?

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

chet Wrote:
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> howcome its such a bad idea, fastfasttt track?

It's nothing like a 'standard' oval track, where side-by-side racing is expected. At Talledega (and Daytona) you'll get 2 wide all race long, and very frequently 3 wide. It's a very big ask to race so closely with people you've never raced against. NASCAR is all about understanding the people around you, and on a super speedway that knowledge is critical.

Jeff and Busch will be worried he'll end up causing problems on track in the chase for the cup, which is far from unlikely given the circumstances.

When you've won an F1 World Championship, a (real) Indy 500, a (real) Indy Car title and had a Le Mans start, you can do whatever the hell you want tbh. Jeff forgets that Jacques done pack racing at 250mph in open wheel cars, whilst Busch forgets that he's had years of experience and is more dangerous than Villeneuve could ever be on a track.

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He can do whatever the hell he wants as long as he doesn't take any of the chasers out.

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Shame that doesn't apply to anyone else on the grid, such as KYLE BUSCH.

Edit: People are forgetting this is a Bill Davis car. If they get 1 car qualified it's a good weekend, if they get 2 cars qualified it's a fantastic weekend, and now they want 3 cars qualified?

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2007 05:54PM by DaveEllis.

I think it applies to others as well.

But the chances of qualifying are indeed pretty slim.

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Assuming he does qualify, I imagine he'll do ok. He was at the Talladega Cup test last week and ran well, including some (bump) drafting. So he'll be ok.

Assuming he qualifies.

DaveEllis Wrote:
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> whilst Busch forgets
> that he's had years of experience and is more
> dangerous than Villeneuve could ever be on a
> track.

never has some more truthful words been said.

kyle busch is a danger, and he knows the cars.

DaveEllis Wrote:
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> Edit: People are forgetting this is a Bill Davis car. If they get 1 car qualified it's a
> good weekend, if they get 2 cars qualified it's a fantastic weekend, and now they want 3
> cars qualified?

Its not Bill Davis thats bad its Toyota, and this is the first plate race with the ugly COT so it could be a good weekend for BDR.

DaveEllis Wrote:
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> When you've won an F1 World Championship, a (real)
> Indy 500, a (real) Indy Car title and had a Le
> Mans start, you can do whatever the hell you want
> tbh. Jeff forgets that Jacques done pack racing at
> 250mph in open wheel cars, whilst Busch forgets
> that he's had years of experience and is more
> dangerous than Villeneuve could ever be on a
> track.

+1 to that. I won't claim to understand the idiosyncrasies of NASCAR like you guys do, but i'd go out on a limb and say that JFV can be trusted around Talladega, even based solely on his Indy experience.

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Running the 500 at Indy is infinitely different to running a SS in a NASCAR though. There's very little experience you can carry over in my opinion. A more standard oval, fair enough, but SSs have little in common with shorter ovals.

But it's not about the ability to run an SS well, it's about the ability to run it SAFELY which NASCAR is worried about. Villeneuve's driven at speeds which make NASCAR look slow, battled wheel to wheel in 3-4 wide situations and come out on top. He has the ability to run safely in the race even if he will struggle with race craft.

Should also be noted that he's already participated in the Talladega COT testing, and caused no issues. During testing he done pack racing and bump drafting and you'd be forgiven for wondering why there was rookie stripes on the back of his car given his conduct

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Somebody should help me remember Villeneuve's pack racing experience.

The only 3 wide situation with Villeneuve that i remember from that time resulted in him t-boning King Hiro.

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Three-wide twice during the 1995 Indy 500 at least. However as I already posted, his Indy experience combined with Talladega testing was enough to prove to NASCAR that he can handle himself.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/02/2007 09:14PM by DaveEllis.

Wonder if he'll turn blonde this time