Nascar, What's your favourite driver

[grower_boy]

^I also dislike Montoya because he was put into NASCAR just for the sake of diversity.

My favorite driver would still be Jimmie Johnson!

 

[ashten]

I just got into watching Nascar because of all the hype of Danica Patrick so I would have to say she is my favorite driver. I was a casual watcher before but I haven't missed one Nationwide or Sprint Cup race yet this year. I also root for Montoya and if their ever would be an African American in Nascar I would root for them to win.

 

[Rey C.]

^I also dislike Montoya because he was put into NASCAR just for the sake of diversity.

Montoya wasn't "put" into NASCAR. He was on the outs with Ron Dennis at McLaren and he didn't want to drive for a backmarker F1 team. So he called up his old boss, Chip Ganassi, to see if he had a spot for him. All this took place well before the end of the F1 season that year and Daimler-Benz had to broker the deal between their (then) divisions, Chrysler and Mercedes. Chip won the CART championship and the (IRL) Indy 500 with Juan, so he was happy to make room for one of the most accomplished international drivers in the world.

His personality isn't for everyone and it's cool not to like him. But the guy is a former F3000 champion and Monaco winner, and he's won in both Nationwide and Sprint Cup since coming back to the U.S. He's also won the Daytona 24. And with their move to Chevy engines, the Ganassi 42 team has been running up front this season.

It doesn't hurt that Juan is a member of the fastest growing demographic group in the U.S. But Juan is in NASCAR with Ganassi because Chip knows what this guy is all about and he wants to win. And it certainly didn't hurt NASCAR's global image to have a multi race winner from the F1 world come over here. If all that was needed was a Hispanic racing driver, Michel Jourdain, Jr. would have fit the bill... he's even Mexican (whereas Juan is Colombian). But Michel isn't very good in stock cars.

 

[knowone]

^I also dislike Montoya because he was put into NASCAR just for the sake of diversity.

My favorite driver would still be Jimmie Johnson!

"just for the sake of diversity" That's nonsense!!! He had a prior winning relationship with Chip Ganassi and Target. Even when he went to F1 he kept his house in Florida and stayed in touch with Chip. When things didn't work out in F1 and he wanted to come back to the US, Chip was happy to have him back, but where? He had a top team in Indycars and two drivers under contract there, also in those few years Indy had collapsed to the point a top driver there is only making $3-4mil a year. Chip was struggling in Nascar Cup in need of fresh drivers and happy sponsors, and JPM was happy to try new things and he can easily pull in over $10mil a year there. There is no doubt he would still have the ride if he wasn't Latino.