Villeneuve takes 21st on truck debut
Jacques Villeneuve claimed to have learnt a lot from his first stock car race after finishing 21st on his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut on Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
The former Formula One world champion had qualified well in seventh place but had a tough NASCAR baptism after being involved in an incident as soon as lap 48, when he hit the back of the No. 16 truck of Brian Scott in Turn 2. When the incident happened he had already dropped down the order and out of the top ten.
"It was a great experience," Villeneuve said. "We learned a lot tonight. The truck was running really strong in the first part of the race and the lap times showed that. It was a little loose in the beginning and then it got settled in.
"I was running high and came off the gas and came up on the back of the red truck (Scott). After that I lost all the downforce. The truck got really tight and it was just a matter of trying to patch it up and trying to run to the end.
"It was a great learning experience and the team was very helpful today."
While his incident was part of the learning process he went through in his first 146 laps of NASCAR racing, it was just one of the many new race situations he was faced with on his debut.
"I learned quite a lot," Villeneuve added. "First of all I got caught out on the first restart. That was a fun learning experience.
"It's quite aggressive in the first laps; everyone runs aggressively. They slide the trucks around and it's good to see that you can slide the trucks quite a lot without crashing."
Villeneuve, who drove the No.27 Toyota Tundra for Bill Davis Racing, finished a lap down to race winner Travis Kvapil. However, the Canadian said he accomplished his first goal, which was crossing the finish line in his first NASCAR race.
"We saw the chequered flag, which is good, without too many incidents," said Villeneuve. "We had pit stops and I worked with the spotter. That was very important, that was the key today."
His next truck race will be on October 6 at Talladega Superspeedway, where he already tested two weeks ago with a Nextel Cup Car of Tomorrow.
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