Villeneuve close to a sponsor? Hires Barry Green

Jacques Villeneuve has moved to NASCAR, where he's signed on with a fledgling team that's very short on sponsorship. If this venture fails – and it soon might if he doesn't find a sponsor for his Bill Davis Racing team – there's nowhere else for the 36-year-old driver to go. If he's worried, Villeneuve isn't letting on. "It can't fall apart. I won't let it,'' he said Thursday at media day for the Daytona 500. "Of course you are not in 100% control of what happens all the time, so if it does fall apart, I will just persevere.'' It begins this weekend for Villeneuve, who will attempt to qualify his unsponsored car for the Daytona 500. If he's not among the fastest two in Sunday's time trials, he'll have to race his way into the field next week. He's confident about his chances, even though he has a shell of a team working on his Toyota Camry. The financial limitations have him lagging behind the super teams, and even though his years of open-wheel success made him a very rich man, he's not prepared to finance this venture himself because he spent so much to get the operation off the ground late last year, and money is a little tight. But Villeneuve claims he has a sponsor on the edge of commitment, a company just needing one final push to sign on the dotted line. This weekend could seal it, ensuring him a fully funded car for the entire 36-race schedule. Having to deal with all the details has stressed Villeneuve a bit, so he last week called Barry Green, who fielded his cars for him in CART, and asked him to handle his business affairs. "The only thing I want to be doing is drive the race car,'' he said. "When you try to do more than one job at a time, you won't do it as good as you should because your mind is not as rested the way it should be. It's not a positive thing. If I am driving, then I just want to concentrate on that.'' More at Sports Illustrated/AP