DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- The list of open-cockpit racers who have tested their wares in NASCAR's premier division and failed is as long as Daytona International Speedway's backstretch.

There have been occasional splashes by drivers bred outside NASCAR's ranks, but most of those came over a generation ago. A.J. Foyt won seven times in Cup competition, but didn't tackle a full season until he was well past his IndyCar prime. Mario Andretti won the 1967 Daytona 500 in a one-shot ride. All of Dan Gurney's Cup victories came on the now-defunct road course at Riverside, Calif.

The ripples made by others, such as they were, quickly dissipated. Of late, Jacques Villeneuve, Dario Franchitti and Patrick Carpentier - accomplished racers all - tried but didn't stick.

Juan Pablo Montoya is the exception. A winner as a Sprint Cup rookie in 2007, he endured a sophomore slump, then rebounded last year to rank as high as third in the standings through 30 races before stumbling in the final six.

With Sunday's Daytona 500 kicking off the 2010 season, he's taking the savvy approach of underpromising in the hopes of overdelivering.

"If we could match last year, that would be good," the 34-year-old native of Bogota, Colombia, said. "Look where the team was before and then last year. We need to make sure last year wasn't a one-off" or fluke.

"If we can run the same and have a very strong foundation for the team, it would be great for the future."

The majority of open-wheel drivers who try to make the transition to stock cars struggle on multiple fronts. They have trouble developing a feel for NASCAR vehicles that can weigh twice as much as a Formula One or IndyCar entry. They're often uncomfortable with NASCAR's close-quarters action, where the operative phrase "rubbin' is racin' " is contrary to other forms of the sport where contact is not only discouraged, it's punished. And if an open-wheel driver isn't American, it's can be difficult - even for those with impeccable credentials - to persuade Fortune 500 companies to ante up.

In all three aspects, Montoya bucks the trend. He won in both Cup and Nationwide competition in 2007, each time on a road course where he had to wrestle the heavy stock car to victory. He doesn't shy away from contact, he relishes it. Merchandising giant Target has got his back financially.

While he hasn't won in Cup racing the previous two seasons, the maturation is evident. Last year, Montoya was one of the elite 12 drivers to qualify for the championship-deciding Chase, and in the first four races of the 10-race playoff system, he produced a pole and four top-four finishes.

Said Mark Martin, a winner of 40 Cup races and a five-time runner-up for the title: "He is an astonishing talent."

Montoya seems less impressed with his stock car accomplishments to date.

"Maybe somebody better than me will come along and do it in a year or two, maybe five," he said. "You've got to be smart enough and patient enough to know that you're going to suck. I came mentally prepared knowing they were going to whip my (expletive) every week, and when I could run well, it was, 'Hey, I can do this.'

"When we ran Atlanta and finished fifth my first year and had a chance of winning that race, I was like, 'Whew. I know that when things are good, I can be competitive at this.' That's a huge relief when you have light at the end of the tunnel."

The bigger, the better?
He's also shown a knack for rising to the occasion. The bigger the arena, the better he has done, though the results have been hit-and-miss.

n 2008, a down season, he still battled to a second-place showing at Talladega Superspeedway, NASCAR's biggest track at 2.66 miles and maybe its wildest as well. Last year, at the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway, he came to the checkered flag second. He dominated the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, leading 116 laps before ruining his shot at victory with a pit road speeding penalty.

"He seems like an interesting guy," said Martin, the pole winner for Sunday's race. "I'm intrigued by him and his talent, and impressed with his change in coming in - from being closed in to opening up and becoming such a part of the fabric of NASCAR. It's cool to see."

Montoya, a resident of Miami, is enjoying his career change, too, because of the lifestyle change it has produced. While the 36-race NASCAR season whips him coast to coast for nine months, it's less of a strain on him than the 5 1/2years he circled the globe chasing the Formula One circuit.

"It's a great family atmosphere and that's amazing," said Montoya, whose wife is expecting their third child this year. "That goes a long way, having the kids around and your own personal space with the motorhome. That's huge.

"And you don't spend as much time testing. In Formula One, you did more miles testing than you did racing. That is crazy. Now, you actually go race every week and it's fun."

He'll have to find a bigger, more expressive word than "fun" should he come out on top Sunday in NASCAR's premier event. He finished third in a qualifying race Thursday, and that earned him the eighth starting spot.

 "We just keep working on it," he said. "We're getting there."

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