"People don't understand what a big challenge this style of racing is, " he said. "Michael Schumacher, just take him to Homestead (an oval track in Florida) and tell him to stay half a second off the pace. He would have a heart attack."

The same sort of brashness that would allow him to so casually blaspheme the German legend played its part in Montoya's first NASCAR victory in last Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway in California. Having started in 32nd place, Montoya took the lead with seven laps remaining and never relinquished it. Despite running so low on fuel that his Dodge eventually conked out during the warm-down, before he could even make the traditional celebratory doughnuts in the in-field, he evinced enough patience and skill to become just the third driver in history to boast wins in IndyCar, Formula One and NASCAR.

More importantly for a sport repeatedly criticised for the lack of diversity in its ranks, Montoya was the first Hispanic driver to win a Nextel Cup race. That the only other foreigners to have done so are Italy's Mario Andretti and Canada's Earl Ross sums up how quintessentially American this type of racing is.

He may have been favoured by this event taking place on Infineon's winding track rather than the usual steeply banked oval but the fact his team Chip Ganassi Racing hadn't won in five years tells its own story. For him to manage this in his rookie season is really quite remarkable.

"I think this victory is really good for all of NASCAR and its diversity plan, " said Montoya. "It's good for the whole sport.

But I'm more relieved than excited. I know we're a little behind on the ovals.

But to get our first win in the first year is huge. It's a big boost to everyone on the team."

In his previous 16 outings, Montoya managed just one top ten finish and ranked 23rd in the points table. Unimpressive but hardly surprising either.

There's a world of difference between racing stock cars and Formula One.

There is often more than one race line on NASCAR tracks and passing is done coming out of corners rather than going into them. It says much for his ability to adapt to any form of racing though that his performance in California made him just the third driver ever - Andretti and American icon Dan Gurney are the others - to win races in IndyCar, NASCAR and Formula One.

Of the three, NASCAR is by some distance the biggest in the US. On any road in America, at least one of the cars in front of you will bear a bumper sticker of the number of their favourite driver. Its growth in popularity over the past decade or so has been such that a Nextel Cup race rain-delay recently got more television viewers than a live NBA play-off game on a Sunday afternoon. While Montoya was drawn to make the switch by his longstanding relationship with team owner Chip Ganassi, NASCAR was delighted to welcome in a Hispanic superstar.

His arrival heralded the opening of an entirely new market. More than a quarter of the races on the circuit are at tracks in California, Arizona, Texas and Florida, states with enormous, and from NASCAR's point of view largely untapped, immigrant populations from South and Central America. Handsome, articulate and just a little bit ill-tempered, Montoya appears the perfect poster boy to attract newcomers to a type of racing that has been derided by critics as one continuous left-turn. The boy from Bogota certainly has the personality and attitude to lure in casual sports fans even if American commentators last week were trying desperately and erroneously to convey the impression he had walked barefoot out of the barrios to become a driver.

Contradicting one television report about him once having to get around on roller blades because he was too broke to use public transportation, Montoya actually comes from quite a privileged background. The son of a wealthy architect, he began karting at the age of five and by his final year in secondary school, was commuting three days a week to the United States for races.

Hardly the type of expensive schedule a poverty-stricken teenager could usually pull off. Not to mention he then went to live in England and Austria for spells in order to enhance his career prospects.

For all that, Montoya has always seemed hungry to win and to prove himself. Early in his first Formula One season, he twice pulled off audacious passes of Schumacher, the type of manoeuvres that boldly announced his arrival and showcased how little he cared for reputations. It's been a similar story in NASCAR. Not even midway through his debut campaign, he's shown a willingness to go bumper to bumper with the big names. Among his several bumping incidents was a clash that sent Tony Stewart, a former NASCAR title-winner and notorious hot-head, spinning down the field at the Texas Motor Speedway.

"I tried to pass him about three or four times and he never gave me any room until I went in a little different, " said Montoya. He's a little different. They all know that now.