Montoya won the 2000 Indianapolis 500, becoming the first rookie to capture the Indy-car classic since the late English F1 star Graham Hill in 1966, and raced in the US Grand Prix F1 event here from 2001 through 2006.

Now Montoya is a rookie in the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most popular form of US auto racing that makes its annual trek to the famed 2.5-mile "Brickyard" oval for Sunday's Allstate 400. "It's going to be funny and weird," Montoya said. "I ran at Indy once, for the 500, and haven't been on the oval since. It should be a big challenge.

"I didn't find the road course that challenging but I think the oval is very different from anything else we do with four corners. The first time I ever did a track with four proper corners was there.

"A lot of important things in my career have happened at Indy."

It will be much tougher for any other driver to duplicate Montoya's Indy treble after Indy speedway owner Tony George parted ways with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone over money issues earlier this month, ending the US F1 Indy era.

Montoya won seven F1 races but left the circuit last year for the full-bodied, chassis-banging world of NASCAR racing that excites American crowds.

Montoya won his first NASCAR race last month in a California road course event where he started 32nd to join Mario Andretti and Dan Gurney as the only racers to win Indy-car, F1 and NASCAR races.