RICHMOND, Va. -- A palpable excitement was in the air Saturday afternoon at Richmond Raceway as some of NASCAR's young Cup Series drivers talked about their upcoming opportunity to race against Juan Pablo Montoya.
A limited group of Cup Series veterans competed against Montoya back when he drove for Chip Ganassi Racing. The younger drivers, however, did not think they would ever get to suit up against him.
Now, they are embracing this opportunity as Montoya returns to NASCAR for a one-off start with 23XI Racing.
"I never had the opportunity to meet him before," said Tyler Reddick, who will be teammates with Montoya at Watkins Glen. "He's just an incredible personality. The way that he thinks about things is kind of from a different generation of drivers."
Like Montoya, Reddick is an accomplished road course racer. He has three road course wins in the Cup Series, and he has 16 top-10 finishes in 24 career starts on these courses.
That doesn't mean that Reddick won't be looking to Montoya for a different perspective.
After all, the Colombia native has two Cup road course wins, as well as numerous other wins in IndyCar and Formula 1. He has experienced things that Reddick never has, and he likely sees situations differently behind the wheel.
"It's been really cool to share just a couple of things with him but I'm looking forward to that experience when we get to the Glen," Reddick said. "Hearing his input from their test and the things he's picking up on in the car already.
"He's just going to offer a unique vantage point. A very experienced vantage point on where our cars are at on road courses. I'm really looking forward to having experience like that and being a teammate with a driver as accomplished as him."
Reddick is not the only driver expressing excitement about the upcoming race at Watkins Glen International.
Austin Cindric, who returns to the playoffs with his win at World Wide Technology Raceway, was previously a de facto teammate of Montoya's. Even though they never suited up against each other, they still spent time together talking about racing.
These conversations shared were ones that became pivotal for Cindric as he gained more experience in an open-wheel racing series.
"He's one of my heroes growing up, really," Cindric told AltDriver. "When I raced F2000, he would go out of his way to go help me while he was racing for the Penske IndyCar team. I spent some time with him and he's always been really great to me."
Montoya was a mentor of sorts for Cindric when they were Penske teammates. On Sept. 15, however, they will be in a different situation. They will be competitors at NASCAR's top level, something that previously was out of the realm of possibility.
"It'll be cool to actually get to race against him," Cindric added. "Obviously, he's got a unique personality and he's a really straightforward guy and I really love that about him.
"So it'd be cool if we get to share the track for some point in time racing for position."