With all apologies to Ohio native Sam Hornish, NASCAR will experience a veritable foreign invasion of open wheel drivers in 2008. NASCAR is beginning to remind me of tennis, where you about need a pronounciation guide to properly say the names of the participants. Coming up, the tracks will be graced by the likes of Jacques Villanueve, Dario Franchitti, Patrick Carpentier, and we can also expect to see the face of Marcos Ambrose in Cup competition as well.

Traditionalists struggle with this as it is yet another sign of NASCAR’s changing landscape. For such folks, the Chase and the “Car of Tomorrow” are bad enough. Now we have foreign drivers and a foreign manufacturer! What in the name of Richard Petty is going on?

Count me as one who is cool with the new faces. For one thing, all those people who claim the superiority of other motor sports are getting a rude awakening. The above mentioned drivers got their feet wet in NASCAR competition and most did not fair that well. Hornish had a hard time just making races. And while Franchitti and Villanueve made races, both had problems finishing races. Really, the only former open wheeler to recently make the conversion and enjoy any real success was the same guy to lead the recent wave- Juan Pablo Montoya. I know many fans have had some real problems with his attitude and his aggressiveness, but the struggles of the others bear two things- Montoya is an incredibly good drivers AND it’s not as easy as it looks.

I also think the presence of this new wave of drivers raises the profile of the sport. The stereotype of NASCAR being occupied by toothless rednecks no longer holds water. The strength of NASCAR is borne out in that it’s not being invaded by no-talent scrubs- in the likes of Franchitti and Hornish you have some real live, bona fide open wheel studs. It will be sure to bring over Indy car fans for at least a cursory glance.

Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen open wheel racers cross over. Long before Tony Stewart and J.J. Yeley made the jump, NASCAR’s tracks have seen the likes of Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt- who won 7 Cup races in 12 years of very limited NASCAR racing.

The recent wave will also fuel some additional healthy debate- something NASCAR always seems to thrive on.

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