CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- It won't be hard for Juan Pablo Montoya to improve on last week's result at Michigan. All he has to do is avoid finishing last.

Problem is, anything short of a victory might be considered a disappointment.

Montoya, who finished 43rd Sunday for the worst showing of his short NASCAR career, heads to the road course in Sonoma this weekend expected to score his first Nextel Cup victory.

The former Formula One star is regarded as one of the top road racers in the world, and solidified that reputation by winning the Busch Series road race in Mexico City earlier this season. But in Sonoma, he'll be racing against NASCAR's very best and a handful of ringers.

"He was phenomenal in Mexico, absolutely phenomenal," said veteran Mark Martin, who is sitting out the race. "Obviously [I'm] going to be watching with great excitement and enthusiasm to see how he stacks up."

Montoya insisted the expectations come only from the media, not his own team, and was nonchalant about any pressure he might be under to win.

"Everybody expects me to go out there and win, and I don't care, to be honest," he said. "Those races are so long and anything can happen. You can get tangled with somebody and all of a sudden you are 20th, and it takes awhile to come back.

"So I am not going to get involved with what everyone thinks the result will be."

Montoya is being realistic, knowing that his Chip Ganassi Racing team lags behind NASCAR's elite. He was disheartened at a recent road test at Virginia International Raceway when he arrived in the only Ganassi car, only to see Hendrick Motorsports bring five.

It is a complaint many drivers have had this season. Hendrick has used an intense testing program to rack up 10 wins through the first 15 races.

"There's not much you can do about it," he said. "We are backed up in the [fabricating] shop .... And how do you get on pace? You can't just go and hire 30 new people. If it's a business, you can't. If it's a hobby, you can."

Compounding the problem is that Montoya has yet to drive the course at Sonoma. He will have roughly two hours of track time to figure out the course before qualifying and doesn't have many people he can turn to for advice about the layout. Ganassi teammate David Stremme has yet to race at Sonoma, and Reed Sorenson has raced there just once.

"I don't know what to expect," he said. "We show up, gotta learn the track and then we'll see."

He is not too worried about figuring out the course, and said his reputation in F1 was as one of the fastest learners whenever the series went to a new track.

And asked if he was the best road course racer in NASCAR, he seemed fairly certain of the answer:

"I would think so, yes. But Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart are also very good, I am told, and Denny Hamlin was very good in Mexico.

"I think we are going to be very competitive," he said.

"Do we have a chance of winning? Probably yes. Are we as good prepared as some of the teams like Hendrick or Gibbs? Probably no. So we'll see what happens."