Schumacher mocks Montoya’s move to NASCAR
Montoya got his first taste of the restrictor-plate track in single-car runs in the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge. The former Formula One star has competed in ARCA at Talladega so the restrictor-plate deal wasn't totally new to him.
"It was cool," Montoya said Monday night. "It was a great experience. It was a little bit of a challenge with all the bumps and getting used to again running close to the wall. That's pretty tough."
Montoya ranked sixth among the 33 drivers who took times Monday. And Montoya did admit he did get bored once in a while.
"It is not the most exciting thing to wait four minutes in the car to get on the track and] to do the two laps," Montoya said.
In talking about the transition to going from Formula One to NASCAR, Montoya said he should be fine competing weekly in Cup as well as many Busch races compared to the 18-race Formula One schedule.
"We go week after week after week of testing in F-1," Montoya said. "We do over 100 laps each day running against nobody. Here you do it every weekend, but you're racing hard every weekend.
"And you go from 2 1/2-mile races to a half-mile flat track. It's like, wow."
Montoya also reacted with a laugh to Michael Schumacher's comments in The New York Times about Montoya's move.
"Personally, I wouldn't do it," the recently retired Schumacher said. "What do you do in NASCAR? What is exciting there? I can't see that, running around on ovals. … I don't know how heavy the cars are, but they are heavy, very low-developed cars compared to Formula One. I don't see the challenge."
What was Montoya's comment about Schumacher's comment.
"I'm surprised he even made a comment," Montoya said about his stoic former rival. Scenedaily.com