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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Montoya Gets Schooled
Juan Pablo Montoya took the pole and led the most laps in the Sylvania 300...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted September 20, 2009   Loudon, NH
Pole winner Juan Pablo Montoya didn't manage to pass Mark Martin in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Juan Pablo Montoya got taken to school in the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and afterwards he knew it. The one consolation for him is that the guy handing out the lesson on Sunday was the guy he trusts most in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Mark Martin.

Montoya, who qualified on the pole for the race and led the most laps, fell behind in a series of a late-race pit stops only to mount a furious charge and work his way up to second-place for the race’s final restart on Lap 298.

Martin was on the outside when the green-flag fell, with the Colombian on the inside. And Montoya’s No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet had been the fastest car all weekend long and by a fairly wide margin, at least in NASCAR terms. It was especially lethal on restarts, which gave Montoya optimism that he could win.

But Martin was having none of it, as he pinned Montoya on the bottom, cutting off his momentum, allowing Martin to take the victory, while Montoya fell to third after getting passed by Denny Hamlin on the last lap.

When he got out of his car, Montoya was angry at first, but soon realized what happened was merely the latest chapter in his ongoing education as a NASCAR racer.

“I thought I had him,” said Montoya. “I was running beside him, I was like, ‘I think I'm losing power but I think I can get enough just to the line.’ He cleared me coming out of (Turn) 4, and then when he went to 1 and 2, he just stopped on the bottom. It's okay. I didn't expect that. I was expecting him to run pretty hard. He just ran very defensively, and I just got caught by surprise. I think if I would have would have been prepared I probably would have jumped to the outside. It's one of those days.”

Still, if Montoya was miffed about Martin snookering him on the restart, he had much to be optimistic about, especially given that he hasn’t won a race all year and was not one of the Chase favorites coming in to New Hampshire, a track where he hadn’t run especially well at in the past.


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