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"Not far south of the Daytona International Speedway, a bit west on Florida 44, is New Smyrna Speedway, carved as a smooth, high-banked half-mile oval. This classic countryside bullring racetrack is about as out of sync with the streets of Monte Carlo and Le Mans as pushrods are with pneumatic valves. Or beer with Brunello.   Yet here come Formula 1 drivers Jarno Trulli and Mika Salo to test their first NASCAR stock car, a Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) NASCAR Sprint Cup Toyota.   Trulli, the 35-year-old Italian, has 13 F1 seasons\u2014most recently with the dissolved Toyota team\u2014and the 2004 Monaco Grand Prix trophy on his shelf. Salo, now 43, had eight full F1 seasons\u2014he&amp;#039;s one of Toyota&amp;#039;s initial GP drivers\u2014and now races a Ferrari F430 in the ALMS series.   Supporting cast: Steve Hallam, 56, MWR&amp;#039;s director of competition, but with 27 years F1 experience, 18 with McLaren, most recently as head of race operations during Lewis Hamilton&amp;#039;s title year.   Robert &amp;quot;Bootie&amp;quot; Barker, 38, graduate engineer and the highly regarded crew chief for Michael Waltrip&amp;#039;s No. 55 Sprint Cup car.   Trevor Bayne, a mere 18 and a 2009 pole-sitter in the Nationwide Series for Waltrip, a ride he will have during 2010.   A 2009 Sprint Cup Toyota, weighing 3400 lb. and powered by a pushrod V-8 with around 850 bhp.   Each driver had a day that began with Bayne and Barker setting up the car. Bayne laid down a bogie lap time of 18.5 seconds, Salo&amp;#039;s and Trulli&amp;#039;s target.   Salo owned day one and quickly got in the groove. He ran short stints, stopping and talking with Barker and Bayne, who explained why the car was behaving as it was and how it could be changed to alter that behavior, a NASCAR tutorial for both drivers, Trulli off to the side, quiet and pensive.   By lunchtime, Salo said of the car: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s good. I was expecting a lot worse. It&amp;#039;s a slow circuit, a good place to do a first run and I&amp;#039;m trying to get the feel of the car. We made some little changes to make it more comfortable, trying different things so I can understand what something does, changing springs or bars or whatever. I&amp;#039;ve never been on an oval before and it&amp;#039;s a new car for me,&amp;quot; adding with a smile, &amp;quot;it&amp;#039;s really good fun.&amp;quot;   Asked to compare the Toyota to the Ferrari F430 Salo smiled and said: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a lot heavier and has a lot more power. But it&amp;#039;s quite easy to control the power, the engine is very driveable.&amp;quot;   We hear that NASCAR drivers watch F1 races, but is the reverse true? Salo chuckled: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s difficult to follow NASCAR in Europe. Not many TV channels show it and it&amp;#039;s on in the middle of the night when nice little Formula 1 drivers are asleep. It&amp;#039;s followed more on the Internet.&amp;quot; But Juan Pablo Montoya&amp;#039;s conversion to NASCAR has raised the attention level and Salo added: &amp;quot;I think people have a more open mind now. Before, all the young drivers in Europe wanted to be in Formula 1. Now they understand there are other forms of racing. I think that&amp;#039;s good.&amp;quot; Which we saw later when Salo described driving in the Arctic Rally to Trevor Bayne, who was ready to buy a ticket to Finland to try it.   Most difficult part of testing the Sprint Cup car? Salo smiled again and said, &amp;quot;Getting in and out...and it&amp;#039;s hot inside.&amp;quot; He then looked the big machine over and said, &amp;quot;This is a simple, pure race car...and I like that.&amp;quot;   During the afternoon, NASCAR legend Mark Martin stopped by. He agreed that 18.5 was a good target lap time and talked with Trulli, Salo, Barker and Bayne about car setup, offering the thought that the half-mile oval was like a road course, &amp;quot;...except the two turns go left.&amp;quot;   Asked what it takes for an F1 driver to move to NASCAR, Martin suggested, &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;d better have your expectations in check. I think it takes a Juan Pablo Montoya to do it, and I don&amp;#039;t think those dudes are a dime a dozen. I think you&amp;#039;ve got to have that kind of talent and dedication and have a group like Montoya had\u2014Ganassi\u2014to continue to work through the learning curve. It&amp;#039;s a tremendous challenge.&amp;quot;   He added, &amp;quot;Montoya says this is the toughest of all that he&amp;#039;s done.&amp;quot;   On day two, Trulli took time settling into quick, smooth-looking laps and later confided that he had trouble at first because he had never driven a race car with a roof, laughing and admitting, &amp;quot;I was struggling a little bit.   &amp;quot;At the beginning it was quite a shock because the switch from a Formula 1 car to a NASCAR is big, really big. We&amp;#039;re talking especially about the mass of the car, which is moving a lot.   &amp;quot;But I am enjoying it. Step by step. I&amp;#039;m used to a very stiff car really on the ground, and this one just has a different way of reacting. In some ways I would say it is easier for a Formula 1 driver because the time reaction is slow, so I can figure it out. On the other hand, there are a lot of little details that can make you go slow.   &amp;quot;So far from what I&amp;#039;ve understood, you need to be not just a skilled driver, but a smart person as well. You need to be thinking, what&amp;#039;s happening? What&amp;#039;s going on? Can I change this...my driving style...the track is going off...the tires...so many things.&amp;quot;   Asked about F1 drivers&amp;#039; interests in NASCAR, Trulli explained, &amp;quot;I think the world changed.&amp;quot; And, again, the agent of that change is Montoya. &amp;quot;To be honest, I didn&amp;#039;t know much about NASCAR until three years ago when Juan Pablo made the move. I have been following him from Europe.&amp;quot;   Both drivers are realistic about the difference between cutting hot laps solo at New Smyrna and mixing it up in a NASCAR race. &amp;quot;Running as I&amp;#039;m doing here is easy,&amp;quot; Trulli pointed out, &amp;quot;but racing with 43 cars on an oval is going to be different and take a bit of time and experience. Juan Pablo told me the race is even better because you&amp;#039;re fighting every lap.   &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m really enjoying this...I feel like a young driver and I have to learn everything from scratch.&amp;quot;   So how did Trulli and Salo do against Bayne&amp;#039;s target 18.5-sec. lap? Identically; the pair ran consistent 18.7s...an impressive start.   Who&amp;#039;s next? "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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