Dario Franchitti

Three New Faces
NASCAR’s reputation as a solidly “good ol’ boy” circuit has long since passed, and now the series is getting a major international flavor.

First it was Juan Pablo Montoya, who shunned IRL and Formula One to join the stock car series, and now former open wheel champions Jacques Villeneuve of Venezuela, Canadian-born Patrick Carpentier and Scotland’s Dario Franchitti are set to drive in the Sprint Cup Series in 2008.

Most of them eased into stock car racing by competing in ARCA and the Craftsman Truck Series and closed out 2007 by testing the Car of Tomorrow (now known as the New Car), which will be used in all 36 Cup races this year.

“It’s definitely a different beast than the truck to drive,” Villeneuve says. “More speed down the straight. And the tires drop off quite quickly as well. So to get your best lap out, you really have to go out hard and try to figure out a lot of things at the same time. So it’s tough, but it’s fun.”

Carpentier agrees.