Montoya making headway in Iowa

Montoya, who drove a stock car in earnest for the first time last Monday at Talladega, took Chip Ganassi's Dodge Charger around the 7/8 mile Iowa tri-oval on Friday, as part of an official ARCA test. The Colombian declared himself happy with the progress made during the day.

"I am getting more comfortable in the car with every run," Montoya said. "I ran many ovals in CART for two years and I was very successful at them. I tried to approach this track the way I did when I ran CART in 1999 and 2000. I just drove quick into the corner to see how the car would react."

The former F1 driver admitted, though, that it will take him some time to find the limits of his new mount. "As I get more time on the track I'm trying to learn where to brake and where to put the gas down to run the faster. It is going to take some time to learn the limits of the car on each track."

Despite completing just his second day of NASCAR testing, Montoya has already impressed his crew. "The feedback we are getting from Juan is unbelievable, " said Montoya´s crew chief for the test, Brad Parrot.

"This is his first time in a stock car on a short-track oval and he is already telling us what the car is doing and what changes to make. We can look at the tire wear and the tracker, and see that it is doing exactly as he describes"

According to his team's timing, Montoya's best lap time was 23.680 seconds, which ranked him second in the test.

1989 Cup Champion Rusty Wallace was also present, and was fastest with a lap of 23.420, 0.26 seconds ahead of Montoya. Both drivers lapped under the official track record, which is set at 23.751.

Montoya will make his stock car debut on Friday, October 6, at Talladega, where he will drive the No. 4 Texaco/Havoline Dodge in the Food World 250, the penultimate round of the ARCA/REMAX Series.