CUP: JPM Stays Hot On Track, Cold Off

Sprint Cup

CUP: JPM Stays Hot On Track, Cold Off

Juan Pablo Montoya qualified second for the AAA 400...

Tom Jensen | Posted September 26, 2009 Dover, DE

At New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Juan Pablo Montoya sat on the pole, was fastest in all three practice sessions, led the most laps in the race and finished third. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

If there’s been one big surprise in the first two weekends of the 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup, it’s been the pace of Juan Pablo Montoya and his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Impala SS.

During the 26-race NASCAR Sprint Cup regular season, Montoya posted just two top-five finishes as he drove conservatively to sew up the team’s first Chase spot. But in the Chase opener last weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, he sat on the pole, was fastest in all three practice sessions, led the most laps in the race and finished a close third behind Mark Martin and Denny Hamlin.

Friday at Dover International Speedway, Montoya kept the wick turned up, posting the third-fastest time in the day’s only practice session before qualifying second to Jimmie Johnson for Sunday’s AAA 400.

As hot as Montoya has been on the track, though, he certainly doesn’t seem too wound up off of it. In fact, the former Indy 500 and Monaco winner is the very definition of cool, calm and collected these days.

“I was surprised we managed to run as fast as we did in practice and it’s okay,” Montoya said of his second-place qualifying effort. “I was kind of surprised. When Jimmie (Johnson) was this fast in practice, I knew unless he makes a huge mistake, we're not going to get that pole.”

Qualifying second was the best Montoya figured he could do, so when he went out and did it, it was no big deal, just what he expected. Nothing more, nothing less. And that’s kind of the attitude he’s adopted these days about racing.

In fact, Montoya sounded downright philosophical about dealing with the vagaries of the Monster Mile, a track that rarely has been kind to him in the past. “You've got to deal with whatever comes,” he said when asked about caution-flag periods. “If it is a ton of green you deal with that. If there is a ton of cautions, you're going to get a ton of cautions. If you have a good spot in the pits, it's going to be big. And that's it, you know? Whatever happens, happens.”

Still, Montoya is keenly aware of the competition heading into the second race of the Chase. The Colombian-born driver sits fourth in points, 55 behind leader Mark Martin and 20 behind Johnson and Hamlin. Historically, Dover has been an excellent track for the two Hendrick drivers, but not for either Hamlin or Montoya, so this weekend will be a critical test.

“You’ve got everybody that is fighting for the championship finish out there so you either finish up there or you don’t have a chance,” Montoya said. “The No. 48 (Johnson) looks really strong here, but they’re always strong here. There’s a lot of good race tracks coming for them so we’ve just got to do what we can. If it’s good enough great, if it’s not well it’s not. There’s no magic or anything. We’re doing the best we can and so far so good.”

That said, Montoya is working hard not to put too much emphasis on any one race, including this one.

“At the end of the day all 10 races give you the same points,” he said. “It’s not like you go to Loudon (N.H.) and they give you 10 points and you come to Dover and they give you 100 or Miami. You’ve just got to try to run good everywhere and if you don’t you try to rescue as many points as you can and move on. It’s rough because some weeks you’re hoping to run better and you don’t and some weeks you surprise yourself running really good. It’s what it is … We’re having fun. We’re pushing ourselves and we’re trying to do the best we can. It seems to be working so far so I can’t complain about that.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of ?Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,? and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

JENSEN: The Crew Chief’s Advantage
The Sprint All-Star Race was an interesting affair ...
CUP: New Hall Of Fame Class To Be Announced
The late Curtis Turner is among the nominees to the NASCAR Hall of…
CUP: All-Star Power Rankings
Jimmie Johnson remains atop the FOXSports.com/SPEED.com Power Rankings...…