Villeneuve learns the draft under cover

On his first day of running in the draft, Jacques Villeneuve learned a lot from the pros yesterday, despite being under cover for the run. After issues with the main car in the morning, Villeneuve took the backup #22 for the afternoon session and few drivers knew he was driving it, just like Jimmie Johnson after passing together through a 17 cars field : "Really, that was Jacques? I was sure it was Blaney [...] He must be alright because I would have never thought it was a rookie following me in the draft". Jeff Burton had about the same comments after a bump drafting session with Villeneuve : "I saw Blaney's car in front of me and he was in a perfect place for a push so I bumped him on the backstretch. He then pushed me back in the same fashion [... ] I'm not that surprised of seeing him driver like a veteran. He was champion in F1, that means he can drive... fast".

Villeneuve brought the car back with a slightly bent front bumper which pleased his crew chief Slugger Labbe : "That means Jacques learned to push, which you have to do here at Talladega"

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.