Montoya has tough Bristol debut

The Colombian had a tough debut at the track where he will race for the first time on 25 March.

He spun going out of Turn 4 in an early run but was able to avoid contact with the wall and continue with his testing programme.

"It's pretty wild. It's been a wild experience to be honest," Montoya said after finishing the morning session at Bristol in 30th place, 0.3 seconds from fastest driver Denny Hamlin.

"I spun and kept it out of the wall. I was pretty lucky.

"I think we've been okay; we're a little bit off the pace, but it's a hard place to find your feet.

"You're looking for a really good lap time but when you've got everybody around it'll be a different force."

The former Formula One driver still has to find the right balance on his car to be quick through the 36-degree banking in the corners, while at the same time getting to grips with the switch to the Car of Tomorrow.

"The hard thing is always the last four tenths," said Montoya.

"You're chasing the car and track and chasing whether you're driving too hard or too slow. You need to find a good balance and good rhythm.

"The better the balance, the easier it's going to be. That's what we're trying to do."

Montoya claims that having the Car of Tomorrow may be positive for him - as it is not only new to Montoya, but to the rest of the Nextel Cup field. After the morning session at Bristol, the car looked slower than the current specification.

"If you ask the guys who have been here before, they'll probably say it's horrible," said Montoya.

"I've never been here in the other cars so I didn't know what to expect.

"From that point of view, maybe I have an advantage, but the lack of laps... Guys come here twice a year and do 500 laps. I've got a lot more to catch up."

The Ganassi driver will be testing at Bristol again on Thursday before flying to Mexico for Sunday's Busch Series race.