Exclusive interview with Bill Davis

BDR team principal, Bill Davis: "We just had understood in the rumour mill that he had interest and wanted to come check out NASCAR and we just reached out to these people, made a call and got everything going."

Q: When did you first talk to them?

Davis: "A couple of months ago."

Q: What's the timetable you've set for Jacques?

Davis: "He'll be testing the next two, three weeks and his first truck race will be at Las Vegas in about three or four weeks. And then he runs seven truck races, one ARCA race at Talladega for sure.

"He'll do quite a bit of Car of Tomorrow testing and we might possibly run a Cup race, but that just remains to be seen."

Q: Looking at what Montoya has done, how quickly do you expect him to get up to speed?

Davis: "Hopefully I don't see any reason why we can't deliver the same type of equipment to JV that Montoya has had available to him.

"Certainly I think JV's credentials speak for themselves and if we could put together the equipment that I takes I think he can have success as enthusiastic as he is about coming down here and he's had the advantage of watching Montoya for a year and I think he will be accepted and embraced by NASCAR and the fans, I really do.

"I mean, it's a pretty big deal for a guy that has won the CART championship, won the Indy 500, won 11 Formula One races and the World Championship to come NASCAR racing. I think this shows how our sport has grown and where our sport is headed, that something like this is possible."

Q: Do you expect Jacques' move to take NASCAR's awareness abroad to a new level?

Davis: "Certainly in Canada you know, that's a given, and globally.

"As our sport becomes even bigger and broader, we have more global attention, obviously with Juan coming this year and I think with JV is going to bring that same think to the sport and hopefully some new sponsors that are probably a bit more global than just the traditional sponsors that we've had here in the States.

"I think it's just a huge plus and a huge win-win for NASCAR and certainly for our team going into the future."

Q: Jacques was regarded as an aggressive kind of driver in Formula One and one who speaks his mind also. Do you expect that to help him or trouble him in NASCAR?

Davis: "Well, you know. Everybody handles himself differently and the personalities are different but certainly there's not a guy in this garage whether it's a driver or owner, or crewman or certainly NASCAR, that can't respect what he has done.

"His racing credentials are amazing and I think that he'll be afforded every opportunity, to be well received and be successful down here."

Q: What do you expect from his first test?

Davis: "Well, obviously it'll be a huge learning curve for him. These cars and trucks certainly don't compare to what he's competed in as far as sophistication and the telemetry and all that's available but a great race car driver is a great race car driver and we've seen that with drivers in this garage that are able to go back and forth through different echelons of racing and be successful. A race car is a race car.

"He's not going to have to think it up, he's going to learn it and hopefully we know that he will have some really great people and be around him. Our truck teams, I think, the record speaks for itself, so there's no reason for him to not get up to speed quickly and have success."

Q: Will any of your truck drivers be there coaching Jacques on Monday at Chicagoland?

Davis: "Mike Skinner will certainly be there, supporting him and helping him. Mike has been great with some of our younger drivers that we've brought along and Mike is the veteran in the Truck Series, so he's going to be there for him and help him and the whole team will pull together."

Q: Will he drive the No. 36 car in the Nextel Cup next year?

Davis: "This is not really set yet. We'll work that through. There'll be some more announcements to come regarding the whole structure of the team and obviously sponsors and numbers."

Q: You are in your first season with Toyota, how do you see your progress thus far and looking into next season?

Davis: "Obviously it's been a bigger challenge and a bigger struggle than we probably anticipated. Fortunately everybody involved stayed focused and certainly from our side we worked really hard, improved the cars, improved the motors. We're getting better each and every week and I mean, Blaney has been doing a great job driving the car.

"We're going to be successful with Toyota, I mean, it has been harder than we thought and at the same time the 22 has ran well all year. People tend to forget that in the second race of the year in California we had a top-three or four car, if not a car that was capable of winning the race.

"We had a tremendous run going and had an engine problem. We went to Vegas for the next race and had a good fast car, a top ten car and got wrecked. We've had a lot more performance than if you just look at the box score shows with the 22.

"Finally the last few weeks we've had the opportunity to finish where we've been running and the results have been there. We're expecting to finish up the year real strong and get ourselves the best points position that we can and go into next year with a lot of really exciting things."

Q: If Joe Gibbs Racing comes along with Toyota next year, will that raise the bar for your Nextel Cup program?

Davis: "I welcome it. If they do announce that's what's going to happen, having another good strong team can only help us. Another established team with veteran drivers and veteran crew chiefs, a veteran engine program. It will be certainly be to our advantage if they do choose to do that, we welcome it."