All the usual pressure will be on Jacques Villeneuve today, when he races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series NAPA Auto Parts 200 in Montreal &#8212; all the usual pressure, plus some additional stress.</p><p>Villeneuve, who will be driving the No. 32 Toyota for Braun Racing, is competing in his first Nationwide Series race and was sixth fastest in practice on Friday.</p><p>Yes, he hopes a good finish will help him attract the attention of potential sponsors and also make him appealing for NASCAR teams looking for a full-time driver next season. And, of course, it would be nice to put another trophy on the old mantel.</p><p>Those things are important to any driver who is trying to carve out a future in America&#8217;s top motor racing series. But Villeneuve &#8212; today &#8212; is so much more than just any driver.</p><p>He is racing in his native Canada in front of tens of thousands of fans. Villeneuve, Canada&#8217;s most recent Formula One champion, is racing on a track which is very familiar from his F-1 days and a track that bears the name of his late father and Canadian racing icon, Gilles Villeneuve.</p><p>Add it all up, and it spells P-R-E-S-S-U-R-E. Good thing Villeneuve, 37, is as cool as a January morning in Rouyn-Noranda, a city on Osisko Lake in northwestern Quebec.</p><p>Villenueve was zero for 10 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve track as a Formula One driver, and he is savvy enough to know that he will probably be zero for 11 this weekend. He is driving strange cars and will have limited practice time leading up to today&#8217;s race &#8212; probably not enough time to get thoroughly adjusted to the big, heavy car.</p><p>&#8220;Night and day,&#8221; Villeneuve said of Nationwide cars vs. Formula One cars. &#8220;Both are fun to drive, but they are very different. I knew it (the transition to stock cars) would be very difficult, but it is a harder job than I expected.&#8221;</p><p>Villeneuve has driven NASCAR Sprint Cup cars and his goal is to secure a full-time ride in that series.</p><p>But so far Villeneuve, the 1997 Formula One champion, is having the same problems as young Americans &#8212; he can&#8217;t find a ride. And just like young American hopefuls, Villeneuve sounds disappointed.</p><p>&#8220;I am sure that if I would have tried in 1998, just after winning the championship, it would have been easier,&#8221; he said. &#8220;That&#8217;s logical. But at the end of the day, there is little respect for what I have achieved. My oval experience is not huge even though there was the Indianapolis 500 win (in 1995), ultimately all the teams want to know is how you did in the 36-race season, how you do on the ovals and are you still hungry enough to do it.&#8221;</p><p>Today will mark the second running of a Nationwide Series race in Montreal. It comes just a week after NASCAR announced that the series would not return to Mexico, prompting one to wonder if there will be a third or fourth race in Canada.</p><p>Jim Cassidy, director of race operations for NASCAR, said the two situations cannot be compared. He said that race in Mexico was initiated to spur an interest in stock-car racing in a country that has a long following for open-wheel racing.</p><p>&#8220;What prompted (the Canadian race) was that we have got great fans in Canada,&#8221; Cassidy said. &#8220;It was to satisfy a demand in Canada.&#8221;</p><p>&#8226;<strong>POLE FOR JOHNSON: </strong>Jimmie Johnson won his second Sprint Cup pole in a row and third of the season Friday at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., taking the top spot in qualifying for the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500.