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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Montoya Eyes Next Level
Juan Pablo Montoya had a career best NASCAR season last year...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted January 21, 2010   Concord, NC
Juan Pablo Montoya is 21st in the Sprint Cup standings, 102 points out of 10th. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
In his third full NASCAR season, Juan Pablo Montoya scored seven top-five finishes and finished eighth in the season standings. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Juan Pablo Montoya, known around the world for his expertise in manhandling racecars, now is known for the same talent in the smaller world of NASCAR.

Last year, in his third season in NASCAR after a shocking move from a safe haven in Formula One, Montoya made the Chase for the Sprint Cup and bumped around on the high ground with people like Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards. He was particularly visible in the second half of the season, showing power and flair that surprised many.

He went winless but came close several times (failing at Indianapolis because of a pit-road speeding penalty) and finished eighth in the point standings, a position few would have predicted in the preseason.

Now there is little question that Montoya, who could have failed spectacularly like so many of his open-wheel brethren in trying to make the transfer to NASCAR, indeed is a stock car racer. And a fine one.

“He’s a world-known race car driver,” said Brian Pattie, Montoya’s crew chief at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing. “He has incredible talent that the whole world knows about. It just took him a little time to adapt and took us a little more time to adapt to him. Because he’s different. He’s not the normal guy who came through Truck or Nationwide racing and moved up.

“He surprised me in the last 10 races (last year). Now that we know what he has, we’re going to push a little harder in the first 26.”

There is the full expectation within Montoya’s circle that he’ll score his first oval-track Sprint Cup win this season, and, after last year’s surge, the championship is considered a reasonable target.

Last year, Montoya became an efficient point racer, protecting his car like so many good racers have done before him to lock up a spot in the top group for the final months of the year. He plans to take that approach again this year, but said Thursday that he’ll pick and choose wisely if there are shots at winning races.

“The top priority is scoring the most points,” he said. “Sometimes winning will help you do that. But you don’t want to get to Richmond (the last race before the Chase) and remember the 100 points that we gave away on a weekend. It would be nice if we had them today.

“So you have to be smart. You have to wait and see how the year plays out. If we have great race cars all year and then you get close to Richmond and you’re in good shape, you can take a different approach.”

Although Montoya didn’t visit victory lane and didn’t finish in the top five in points, he made significant gains last season.

“In a way we’re disappointed, but how disappointed are you going to be when you look back on the year before,” he said. “We were happy finishing 18th. We were in the 20s and we started running in the teens, and we saw that as progress. Now if we run 15th, I’m screaming on the radio because we suck. It’s all perspective.”

Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale: Jan 19th-24th
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