With the Lotus team announcing that they have signed their first driver and an official announcement coming very soon, thoughts turn to Jarno Trulli, who now finds himself out of a drive for 2010 after the Panasonic Toyota Racing tram opted to close their doors on the pinnacle of Motorsport.

However, on the same day that the team announces the arrival of that undisclosed driver, Trulli< who was thought to be in the hot seat for a drive with the Malaysian team, is busy in America at a NASCAR event in Phoenix with Michael Waltrip Racing ahead of his first official test int eh series next week. While the Italian racer has openly admitted that there are several opportunities to remain in the pinnacle of Motorsport next season and that next week’s test is just for fun, he did reveal in an interview to Autosport that he would like to keep the door open to the possibility of racing in NASCAR alongside his former F1 colleague, Juan Pablo Montoya.

According to Trulli, Montoya’s defection to the US based series several years ago has highlighted the series and with no real ties to keep him in Europe, a move to America is a real possibility, especially after seeing the huge following and professional atmosphere that goes along with the NASCAR championship.

“It’s just a question that I don't know if I want to do it,” he said. “That's why I'm extremely interested in testing this car, to get an idea of what [it] is [like] driving these cars."

It is obvious by his comments that he hasn’t already signed a deal to jump into NASCAR next season, and reading between the lines, there is a possibility he has signed a deal already....

“Obviously looking at today's situation it's pretty clear that I can race in Formula 1 next year,” he said while Lotus team boss Tony Fernandes has made it quite clear to the British publication that he wants an experienced driver in one of his cars for their debut season....

"If we can get a guy who has been doing it for a long time, that's fantastic because you can't buy experience and he can help us develop the car and the team and he can help us after the race, adding value to driver development.”

So, will we hear in the coming days that Trulli is the number one man for Team Lotus.....more than likely.