Have a FaceBook, Twitter, or other social networking account?

Link them to your fanatic account!

Add An Account

TAKE ME TO...
NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: No Regrets For Montoya
Juan Pablo Montoya is sixth in points...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted October 23, 2009   Martinsville, VA
Juan Pablo Montoya in his first run at the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup is currently sixth in points. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Although his hopes for a NASCAR Sprint Cup championship almost certainly ended last Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Juan Pablo Montoya said Friday he has no regrets.

Montoya, the Colombian-born former CART champion and Formula 1 star, got caught in an early race scrum at Lowe’s and finished 35th, his worst result of the season. And it dropped him from third in points to sixth, some 195 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson. That means Montoya’s odds of displacing Johnson over the final five races of the season are roughly none and none.

That said, Montoya continues to be elated at his breakthrough third full season in the Sprint Cup Series and the progress made by his Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team. From where Montoya is sitting, the team has made huge gains this year.

And as for last week? That was last week.

“We came here, we made the Chase and we’ve been competitive, we had a bad week,” said Montoya. “You’ve got to look at the positives. The positives were we probably had the second fastest car last week. I would say the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) had a faster car than us. Apart from that nobody had a faster car than us. Neither the No. 11 or myself had a good week. What can you do? We lost a ton of points, you move on.”

So it’s on to tiny Martinsville Speedway this week, where Montoya and 42 others will contest Sunday’s TUMS Fast Relief 500.

“We come here and we’re ourselves and to do the best we can,” said Montoya. “Anything we do is a bonus. If I came here to defend the title and that happened last week I’d probably about kill myself but right now, hey, we lost some points we can still come back and have good results. If we don’t we’ve got to learn from it. It’s all about learning. Was it our fault? No. Was it anybody’s fault? I don’t think so. Was Mark Martin at fault because he ran into the back of me? No. We all checked up and he didn’t slow down fast enough and its part of racing. I’m good with it. It could happen to anybody.”

In five previous Martinsville starts, Montoya has been good but not great. His average finish is an excellent 12.600, but his best finish was an 8th-place run in his rookie season. In the other four races here, Montoya’s finished outside the top 10.


Page 1 of 2
Prev
12
Next
tom_jensen's avatar

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR
Advertising | Jobs | Feedback | FAQ | Terms of Use | NEW Privacy Policy | Ad Choices | Site Map
Fox Sports | FUEL TV | FX Network | National Geographic | IGN | AskMen
The Motor Sports Authority, SPEED and associated logos are registered trademarks of Speed Channel Inc.
All Rights Reserved © Speed Channel, Inc. 2012

All external links will open in a new browser window. SPEED.com does not endorse external sites.