THE CANADIAN PRESS
MONTREAL — Jacques Villeneuve is returning to the Montreal racetrack named after his father to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race next month.
During a news conference at his trendy Newtown Restaurant on Thursday, he admitted that fans probably expect him to do well on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Villeneuve raced on the track 10 times when he was a Formula One driver.
The last time he competed in Montreal was in an F-1 race in June 2006, but he did not finish.
In the NASCAR race, he will be piloting Toyota Camry No. 32 for the Braun Racing team.
"Even a second place finish will be considered a disappointment … but at least I have a good car and a good team and that should remove a big part of any excuses," said Villeneuve.
The former Formula One champ financed his own brief foray into stock cars and trucks last summer. He was invited by Bill Davis Racing to drive in the Daytona 500 but failed to qualify for the main race.
Even still, Villeneuve believes he has a future in NASCAR.
"I hope so," he said. "The good thing is that it’s OK to age in NASCAR so you have a longer career in NASCAR."
Villeneuve doesn’t have the backing of any major sponsors, but said several medium-sized sponsors came forward "in the last two or three days" to support him.
Via Rail and videogame maker Electronic Arts are among those who are backing the NASCAR hopeful.
But those sponsors are only supporting the 37-year-old for the Montreal race.
"Having a good race here could give a positive feedback to potential sponsors which would help in getting a full ride," said Villeneuve.
He’s hoping to improve his chances to compete full-time in the Sprint Cup, NASCAR’s main racing series.
Villeneuve will be also competing for fan attention with fellow Quebecer Patrick Carpentier, who finished second in last year’s first edition of the Nationwide Series.
"That would be great because that would take the pressure away from me so I’ll be very happy if he gets all the pressure," said Villeneuve.
He is one of the best known drivers in motor racing and has titles from every series he has entered. However, Villeneuve hasn’t done much winning since leaving the powerful Williams F-1 team to join the start-up BAR team in 1999.
He doesn’t appear to have completely shut the door on a return to Formula One, but adds that he has closed that chapter.
"Obviously if the phone rings and there’s (someone) who says, `Come and do this for us’, you think about it, that’s normal," said Villeneuve. "It is not something I’m looking towards, but who knows what happens in life?
"But my goal is NASCAR."