Chip Ganassi announced today at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, IL that F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya will drive the #42 Texaco Havoline Dodge in the 2007 NASCAR Nextel Cup season. Of course it is well known that Montoya will lose his current F1 ride with Mercedes-McLaren at the end of the 2006 season. Montoya has worked for Ganassi before and won the 1999 CART championship & the 2000 Indy 500 and Ganassi has said he would love to get Montoya back. Also, Montoya drove Jeff Gordon's Nextel Cup car in 2003 in the Trading Paint TV show. Montoya met with team members today and also attended a meeting with Ganassi, NASCAR president Mike Helton and other NASCAR officials.
Montoya was at a press conference last weekend at the US Grand Prix at Indy with DaimlerChrysler chairman Dr. Deiter Zetsche, Mercedes-McLaren boss Ron Dennis & NASCAR team owner Ray Evernham. The purpose of the press conference was for Zetsche to reaffirm the company's support of motorsports, especially NASCAR as there had been rumours that Dodge was looking to leave. Zetsche also attended the Pepsi 400 in Daytona. No doubt Montoya spoke to Evernham and Evernham got word to Ganassi about Montoya's interest in NASCAR. Montoya is likely preferable to Dan Wheldon because he appeals to the latin audience. Plans are in the works for Montoya to drive some Busch Series races later this season after the end of the F1 season.
The other big announcement in NASCAR is that UPS has announced that they will take their 2007 sponsorship to Dale Jarrett's new ride for Michael Waltrip Racing. Waltrip said he will announce a driver for his third car sponsored by Burger King/Dominos Pizza in a couple of weeks. It's rumoured to be Ward Burton. This means that Robert Yates has to find a new driver & sponsor for the #88. The rumour is that current Busch Series driver Stephen Leicht & sponsor Citi Financial will move up to Nextel Cup.
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