Ganassi enters car for Montoya

Montoya has made three starts in the Busch Series in recent weeks, and finished 20th at Phoenix on Saturday.

Ganassi has entered an extra car for the Nextel Cup finale at Homestead next weekend, but said that he wants to make sure it is the right decision before confirming anything.

"We feel very strong about getting him in the Cup race," said Ganassi. "We're leaning that way, and I hope we do it, but we want to make sure it's right."

The team boss added that one of the key factors to consider is making sure the team have good pitstops.

"The issue is getting him out of the pits in a competitive manner," he said. "You can have the fastest car out there but if we can't get out of the pits you might as well not even be there.

"On Saturday he came in the pits and pinched the guys against the wall one time, and we had a slow, slow stop. It's just a learning curve.

"We're going to have a look at it this week and decide. We just don't want to embarrass him or ourselves."

Montoya will drive the number 30 car if he does take part in the Nextel Cup race, although it is possible that he could swap cars with Casey Mears.

The number 42 car of Mears is guaranteed a slot on the grid for the race based on team owner points, and Ganassi could swap the drivers if he feels that Mears would have a better chance than Montoya of making the race based on pure speed.

"Casey is a great qualifier," he said, "but we haven't even broached that subject. A lot of it has to do with how many cars are entered, but at the moment Casey is in the 42 next weekend."

Montoya has said that he is in no rush to make his Nextel Cup debut, and that he will only do it if he feels it is right.

"If things are not right it's not worth doing it," Montoya said. "It's just a race, for me it's not a big deal.

"The big deal for me was the ARCA race at Talladega because that was my first NASCAR-style race."