Carpentier and Villeneuve for the first time head to head

Phoenix International Raceway will host this week-end the first head to head confrontation between French Canadians Patrick Carpentier and Jacques Villeneuve on the Nextel Cup circuit. Both drivers appear on the entry list, which counts 49 cars. As both cars are out of the top 35 owners standings, this means they'll have to qualifying their cars within the top 8 cars out of the 14 in contention.

Villeneuve will be driving the #27 Toyota entry for Bill Davis Racing (sponsor to be announced) and Carpentier will drive the #10 Dodge for Gillett Evernham Motorsport painted in Valvoline and Stanley Tools colors.

Qualifications will be held Friday, November 9th at 5:40 pm ET and green flag for the race will fly at about 3:40 pm ET Sunday (Nov. 11)

Villeneuve and Carpentier testing in Atlanta

For the first time in history, and hopefully not the last, two french Canadians ran together on a NASCAR track as Jacques Villeneuve and Patrick Carpentier both participated in the Car of Tomorrow tests at Atlanta this week.

Carpentier, running in the Gillett Evernham Motorsport #10, car posted his fastest lap at 182.832 mph on Tuesday morning, good enough for 36th place out of 54 cars for that session. Carpentier placed slightly better in the afternoon in 31st place but speeds were slower as his 180.675 lap proved

Villeneuve also ran his fastest lap on Tuesday morning, clocked at 182.543 mph (43rd out of 54 cars). Villeneuve, at the wheel of the Bill Davis #27 machine, placed better in the afternoon with a 20th place out of 46 cars as he ran a lap at 181.497 mph

Jacques Villeneuve moves on to his first short track race

After riding the high banks of the longest track of the NASCAR circuit at Talladega Speedway two weeks ago, Jacques Villeneuve now takes on the challenge of the shortest one at Martinsville Speedway. Villeneuve's name is seen once again in the Craftsman Truck Series entry list in the #27 truck for Bill Davis Racing. Villeneuve will be at his 3rd CTS' race and his 4th start behind the wheel of a stock-car.

The race will be shown live on Speed TV this Saturday at 2:30 PM

Villeneuve tests ARCA car at Talladega

Jacques Villeneuve was back at Talladega Speedway yesterday for another series of tests, this time inside an ARCA car. Bill Davis Racing brought 2 cars to the test, one for Villeneuve (#02) and another for Michael Annett (#28). Both had a very good day scoring respectively 8th and 2nd fastest lap times out of 44 cars. Villeneuve was inside the car from early in the morning to late in the afternoon and impressed his crew chief as he was smiling all the way, despite the reputation he built himself in the F1 circus.

Villeneuve should be running the ARCA race at Talladega speedway on Friday, October 5th

Villeneuve on Las Vegas entry list

Well, it's official now, Jacques Villeneuve will be driving in NASCAR this week-end. His name appears on the Craftsman Truck Series entry list for the Las Vegas race this week-end, where he will drive the #27 Toyota Tundra entry for Bill Davis Racing.

Villeneuve won't be the only Indy 500 champion on track as Buddy Lazier will also run the race. Lazier won the 2000 edition of the May classic.

Villeneuve will be the third ex-F1 driver t drive in the Truck series as Eliseo Salazar ran Watkins Glen in 1997 (finished 17th) and Olivier Beretta ran the Heartland Park Race in 1999 (also finished 17th) but both races were road races, meaning Villeneuve will be the first to do so on an oval.

Engine failure for Villeneuve at Talladega test

Jacques Villeneuve was on scene this Monday to test the Car Of Tomorrow (COT) for it's upcoming race at Talladega on October 7th (first race for the COT on a super speedway). Villeneuve's run was a short one as his engine let go on his first lap out. Bill Davis Racing's spokesperson told Radio-Canada that Villeneuve had nothing to do with the failure and that he went quickly back on track with the backup car.

Villeneuve was shown on Jayski's testing page as last car of 62 in the morning practice with a recorded speed of 162 mph while the 61st place car was at 181 mph.

Villeneuve is approved by NASCAR for COT test

They're were little reasons to believe otherwise but NASCAR announced today they approved Jacques Villeneuve's participation in the manufacturer's test that will be run at Talladega next week. Villeneuve will run the Car Of Tomorrow (COT) car alongside other NEXTEL regulars on the 2.66 mile super speedway.

Team owner Bill Davis also talked about having Villeneuve run the ARCA tests at Talladega on Sept. 24th and 25th (in was stated earlier this week that he would be running the ARCA race there on Oct. 5th)

Villeneuve getting comfortable with the COT

Jacques Villeneuve took the wheel of a Nextel Car of Tomorrow (COT) for the first time yesterday at Kentucky Speedway and got at speed much quicker than the people at Bill David Racing expected. Slugger Labbe, Villeneuve's crew chief said they had planned the whole morning for Villeneuve to get comfortable with the car but he was in the expected speed range at his 3rd lap which enabled them to do much more work than expected. In the end, Jacques ran 162 laps of the 1.5 mile oval. With these results, their testing schedule is now kicking to a new speed as Jacques should be testing with the Nextel guys at Talladega next week if he receives his clearance from NASCAR for the 2.66 miles super speedway.

The rumours heard yesterday also confirmed Villeneuve would use the last 7 races of the Craftsman Truck Series in preparation for his 2008 Sprint Cup assault.