Jacques Villeneuve working again on reviving his NASCAR career

   Jacques Villeneuve: another try at NASCAR (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.
   It would have been a great promotion – Formula One champ (1997) Jacques Villeneuve racing in this Sunday's NASCAR Cup race at Watkins Glen.
   And it would have been a good pop for car owner Richard Petty, who tried to put the deal together.
   Villeneuve was willing, even eager, to make this race…which shows he still has interest in a NASCAR career.
   However in the end there simply wasn't enough time to put the whole package together: NASCAR was racing Monday in Pocono, Petty made the move on Tuesday, but Villeneuve was in Europe on vacation and would have had to fly back immediately.
   Still, Villeneuve says he's got more NASCAR offers "on the table" to run later this season, apparently in several races. He's already signed to run the Montreal Nationwide race in a Toyota later this month.
   The Villeneuve-at-the-Glen line is this: Petty's Reed Sorenson was gassed after a crash at Pocono, and Petty might have needed a relief driver for this weekend, or at least a relief driver standing by. The pitch was to Villeneuve, who accepted it.
   However Sorenson will be back in No. 43 for Petty here.
  "The Petty team retained Jacques Villeneuve as a substitute driver in case Sorenson continued to suffer from the effects of carbon monoxide he inhaled in Monday's race at Pocono," the team says. "Fortunately Sorenson has recovered from the accident.
   "Owners George and Foster Gillett along with the Richard Petty Motorsports team appreciate Villeneuve's willingness to help out on such short notice."