Villeneuve fast at Talladega

The 1997 Formula One World Champion completed on Monday his third day of NASCAR testing at the 2.66-mile oval, but more importantly his first official Nextel Cup test, sharing the track with the drivers he expects to be racing against next year.

Once again he drove Bill Davis Racing's No. 27 Toyota Camry in what is also his first experience on a Superspeedway at the wheel of the Car of Tomorrow, having first tested the car last week at the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway.

"It's very nice to finally drive around this track," said Villeneuve. "I've heard a lot about it and it is a very special race track. It drives different than any other track I have been on because you can drive wide-open all the way around.

"You just have to be smooth and be careful not to use too much power so you can roll and get an extra tenth just by driving smoothly.

Villeneuve completed some single car runs in the morning session, trying to get used to driving in the high line of the Talladega banking. In the afternoon he completed some drafting runs for the first time, getting a taste of what he will face when he competes in an ARCA race at the track in October.

"We got going very late this morning and only got a couple runs in," Villeneuve added. "I was just getting used to running the fast laps out there as far as staying up to the top of the race track as long as possible before coming back down."

While he was not quite as quick as the Nextel Cup regulars in the morning session, he was impressive in the afternoon while running in the draft, setting a best lap of 49.278 seconds at an average speed of 194.326 mph, the fastest of any Toyota runner for the session.

"It was great fun and really enjoyable," Villeneuve said about his drafting run. "The car is great to drive and you can see that every driver has their own specialty when they are in the draft.

"I was trying to learn what to do and how to react to various drivers in the draft. When we were side-by-side with another car - that was challenging to learn what to do because of the ways the air reacts on the car."

"We mainly need to work on the communication when I am in the draft. There were a few confusing moments when I was out in the pack because there is a lot of lingo used that I am perhaps not as familiar with."

The 36-year-old thoroughly enjoyed his first experience in the Nextel Cup garages and was stunned by how amicable his teammates and the other drivers were, something he confessed not being used to from his Formula One days.

"When we are not in the cars we have been able to talk quite a bit and they are a big help," Villeneuve said.

"Really all of the drivers in the garage have been very friendly and I'm not used to that. I was used to everyone minding their own business and kicking everyone down so this is a nice change."

Villeneuve will continue testing tomorrow at Talladega.