NASCAR

Sprint Cup

CUP: Montoya Still Charging

Juan Pablo Montoya has just one career Sprint Cup victory...

Tom Jensen | Posted July 31, 2010 Long Pond, PA

Juan Pablo Montoya is 21st in the Sprint Cup standings, 102 points out of 10th. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

NASCAR Sprint Cup racers don’t have the luxury of wallowing in the woulda, coulda, shoulda’ of what happened last weekend. With 38 races in 42 weeks, as soon as the checkered flag falls, attention turns to the next race. And in Juan Pablo Montoya’s case, that’s a very good thing indeed.

Last weekend, Montoya led the most laps in the Brickyard 400, the second consecutive year he accomplished that feat. But during the final round of pit stops on lap 139 of the 160-lap race, he surrendered the lead by taking four tires instead of two, as the front six drivers did.

Once he got buried in the pack, Montoya tried desperately to get back to the front, but lost it at the exit of Turn 4, bounced off the wall, slid back across the track and was walloped by Dale Earnhardt Jr. After leading more than half the race, Montoya finished 32nd, while Jamie McMurray, his teammate at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, went on to win the race.

But that was then.

This weekend, the Cup Series is racing at Pocono Raceway, where on Friday Montoya qualified second for the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500.

Montoya, who held the pole briefly before being bumped by Tony Stewart, said he was shocked at how fast his No. 42 EGR Chevrolet went in qualifying.

“When I came across the line, it was like I’m waiting for the guys to say, ‘Ooh, P15 or something,’ and it was P1,” said Montoya. “I asked them, ‘Are you serious or are you joking with me?’ I’m kind of happy I guess. We changed the car a lot. I know it’s kind of crazy because last week we ran so good but overall on the other tracks we haven’t really run as good as we need to in the big tracks. In the small tracks we run really well. We’re trying a little bit different approach on the car and it seems to be working.”

Montoya left the Brickyard without comment, but said he was over the disappointment of his crash in short order.

Click Here to play Super 7 Sweep Fantasy Racing powered by Wind Tunnel™!

“It’s kind of weird because I didn’t really want to talk to the media because I was just pissed off and when you’re angry you’ll say something dumb and you’ll regret it,” he said. “As a team we win together, we lose together and actually in a crazy way with myself hitting the fence helped the team win the race.”

A victory on Sunday at Pocono would go a long way towards lifting the spirits of Montoya and is team. After qualifying for the Chase for the Sprint Cup last season, Montoya has had two constants this season: His cars have been fast and he’s struggled mightily to finish races. In fact, Montoya’s seven DNFs tie him with Marcos Ambrose for most among the non start-and-park teams.

“It’s kind of crazy,” said Montoya. “Last year we made the Chase and we didn’t have anywhere near the speed we have this year as a team. We had a lot of wrecks (this year) and everything that can go wrong had gone wrong. I don’t know. It’s frustrating, yeah, but move on. To be honest with you, I just go every week to get in the car and do the best we can and at the end of the year you see what happens.”

Montoya said he’s ready to win a race, something he’s only done once so far in 129 Sprint Cup starts. And he doesn’t care where it happens.

“When I race I never pay attention to, ‘Ah, this is Indy, this is the one to win.’ I don’t do that,” said Montoya. “When I won Monaco, after Monaco I was really excited because that was the race as a kid I always wanted to win was Monaco. (Ayrton) Senna used to dominate and I was a huge fan of him and it was always fun to watch. That was a huge goal for me to try to get a win in Monaco. It would be cool to win at other places. As a driver, you just want to run as best as you can every week and we need to make ourselves better to give ourselves more shots at winning and see what happens.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

Play! SPEED Fantasy Racing and Super 7 Sweep

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

CUP: Logano Ready For Challenge?
Joey Logano has a new crew chief and a new attitude...
CUP: Jamie Mac Looks To Get It Back
Jamie McMurray won both the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 in 2010…
CUP: Team Preview - Stewart-Haas Racing
Stewart-Haas Racing won a championship in only its third year...