Juan Pablo Montoya and A.J. Allmendinger hope to race at Daytona 500.

Juan Pablo Montoya and A.J. Allmendinger hope to race at Daytona 500.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Don't spend too much time comparing NASCAR rookies and former open-wheel drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and A.J. Allmendinger.
Montoya, perhaps the most anticipated stock car rookie since four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, has been in the spotlight from the moment he announced he would leave Formula One for NASCAR.
A former CART champion and Indianapolis 500 winner, Montoya has won seven Formula One races but decided he needed a change. So, the 31-year-old Colombian reunited with car owner Chip Ganassi for a run at Cup.
Allmendinger has had a less glorious climb.
Thursday, he's hoping to race his way into Sunday's 500-mile race as part of Toyota's NASCAR debut. Allmendinger finished 40th of 61 entries in Sunday's time trials; Montoya, racing a Dodge for an established team, finished fourth.
After starring in lower level open-wheel series, Allmendinger burst into Champ Car -- the offshoot of defunct CART -- as the top rookie in 2004. But the short, muscular, crewcut Californian failed to win and was fired by team RuSport last June. Less than a week later, he was hired by Forsythe Championship Racing, teaming him with longtime mentor Paul Tracy, who sponsored him in go-karts.
Five Champ Car wins
The change worked for the 25-year-old Allmendinger, who won five times before NASCAR beckoned. He drove in three Craftsman Truck Races late last season, and new Team Red Bull surprised a lot of people by signing him to race the Cup series in 2007.
Allmendinger's one of 25 drivers vying for seven spots in the 43-car Daytona 500 field. He'll run in one of Thursday's two 150-mile qualifying races that will set the lineup, and he acknowledged the struggle is just beginning.
"I wish we had six more months before we had to do this," he said. "I've maybe had 10 days, if that, in a Nextel Cup car. And that's because the team is at home trying to build cars.
"And my mistakes [while] trying to learn unfortunately put the team behind because we're starting from scratch," added Allmendinger, who crashed twice in two days of testing last month in Las Vegas.
"So it's not like you just bring out one of 50 cars and just get back on the track. It just takes time. Unfortunately, now I'm going to have to do it in race time, without a lot of experience."
Allmendinger, who also will drive 12 truck races this year, said he realizes Montoya is in a better position entering the season.
"He's had a ton of time in the cars, because he got to do some Busch races [last year], and he's with a team that's got just a stack of cars that he can go and drive," Allmendinger said.
Needs patience
Marty Gaunt, Team Red Bull's general manager, is preaching patience, confident Allmendinger's time will come.
"The biggest thing with A.J. is he wants to go fast, and he wants to go fast now," Gaunt said.
"As long as he can slow down and be a little more patient and we give him the time to show his talents on the racetrack, it will work out."
Casey Mears, starting his fifth full Cup season after moving to NASCAR from open wheel, said Allmendinger's got "a ton of talent.
"I hope that Red Bull understands where they're at and how much he has to learn and grow. It's a two-year process, if not more than that," Mears said.
"Hopefully, they've made a commitment there. Chip [Ganassi] was real good with me. I was with him for four years and got to this level.
"I think that if they're patient with him, and he's patient and understands what he's getting into, the talent is there. He's just going to need time."
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