Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog

Loosely translated that means, “My name is Jacques. I want to race with you.” and it is going to happen whether Jeff Gordon, and others like it. NASCAR has given the OK for this, and what NASCAR wants NASCAR gets.

This has all of the makings of being an out-take from ‘Talladega Nights’ where Ricky Bobby must face the French F1 star at Talladega. OK, Jacques isn’t quite French, he is French Canadian, but this is eerie just the same. I hope Sunday’s race doesn’t turn into an out-take of ‘Talladega Nights’, I think it would look bad on all those involved including BDR and NASCAR.

The most puzzling thing about all of this is, why now? Why Talladega? Couldn’t Bill Davis Racing have waited until after Talladega to debut their former F1 Champion and Indy 500 winner? Yes they could have waited, in fact, Jacques wasn’t scheduled to make his first Cup start until the end of the season in either Phoenix or Homestead depending on which article you read. So why didn’t they wait? Money, that’s why.

Sure Jacques wants to race at the Cup level, it has been his goal all along, and he was willing to jump through all of the hoops like Montoya did to get there, but you must remember it is BDR that is pushing him to race at Talladega. BDR could have easily told him he was racing the truck race, or the ARCA race, and he would have done so, but instead BDR saw an opportunity to get a fromer F1 Champion in a Cup race at Talladega and they went for it - with NASCAR’s approval of course. Montoya also made it easier for Jacques to do this too - inadvertently of course. If it were not for the ease that Montoya jumped through the NASCAR hoops Jacques would still be racing in the trucks and ARCA/ReMax Series.

Jacques isn’t stupid either, he knows he is being used, but he is a racer and he wants to race, and he wants to race at the most competitive level possible and he sees this as a chance to do so. Will he make rookie mistakes? Probably, but I don’t think he is stupid enough to put his car, or his competitors, knowingly in danger. Jacques knows first hand the dangers of motorsports, his Dad died while driving a Ferrari in F1. It was a horrific crash. One of the most horrific I’ve ever seen. I even have had nightmares about it myself. I’m sure Jacques has relived that crash more times than anyone can count, and has had his share of nightmares, and it is for this sole reason that I know Jacques will not knowingly do anything dangerous out there on Sunday. Montoya, on the other hand … but I digress.

With that being said, the potential for Jacques to make a mistake is great. He is a rookie at this kind of racing, this is the first CoT race at Talladega so everyone else is still feeling out their cars and, if you believe the reports, the CoT’s have some major visibility issues - that doesn’t help. Finally, other drivers like Jeff Gordon are not going to take too kindly to this ‘rookie’ and might give him a hard time on the track, which potentially could be dangerous as Jacques tries harder to keep his car where it is even though no one is willing to race with him. In other words, Jacques might ‘force’ people to race with him, and that could lead to mistakes.

Bill Davis Racing is using this as a publicity stunt to get those much needed sponsorship dollars. Remember, now that Joe Gibbs will be the ‘flagship’ team for Toyota, BDR will now be one more rung down the Toyota ladder and get less support. By having Jacques racing now that gives them more time to shop around for potential sponsors and maybe even move back up the Toyota ladder by passing MWR with Jacques in their fold.

For more on this, I suggest you read the interview that Villeneuve did with Wendy Venturini. It will provide you with a little better insight as to where Jacques is coming from in this deal.

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Photo Credit: Jacques Villeneuve - Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR