Davis reveals Villeneuve Cup plans

Villeneuve announced yesterday that he will be testing a Toyota Tundra NASCAR truck at Chicagoland on Monday for Bill Davis Racing.

And Davis himself revealed today in an exclusive interview with autosport.com that the Canadian will be making his NASCAR debut on 22 September at Las Vegas in the Craftsman Truck Series.

Davis said he has signed Villeneuve after first making contact with him a couple of months ago.

And he now confirms that former Formula One world champion will also take part in seven Craftsman races this season, to get him ready for a possible Nextel Cup debut at the end of the year.

"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," Davis told autosport.com.

"Then he runs seven truck races, and 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."

The BDR boss said he expects Villeneuve to quickly get up to speed and sees no reason why he can't match the results Juan Pablo Montoya has been able to get in his maiden season in the Nextel Cup.

"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," Davis added.

"Certainly I think JV's credentials speak for themselves and if we could put together the equipment that it takes, I think he can have success as enthusiastic as he is about coming down here.

"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."

Davis said that NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion and current leader Mike Skinner will coach Villeneuve in his test at Chicagoland on Monday, anticipating that the former Formula One World Champion will face a steep learning curve.

"Well, obviously it'll be a huge learning curve for him," he said. "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."

BDR is currently the leading Toyota team in the Nextel Cup but could face a tougher challenge to remain as the best squad for the Japanese manufacturer if Joe Gibbs Racing finally end up running Toyotas next year.

He said however that it would be plus and would welcome them in the Toyota camp next year.

"I welcome it," he said. "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."