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| JPP -- Chase Contender |
He’s still got a long, long way to go,
but Juan Pablo Montoya is looking like a possible Chase contender.
Talk about a Wild Card.
Montoya has always been one of the
hardest guys in NASCAR to pass (along with Ryan Newman). Pass
at your own risk. Bump him once and he’ll
bump you twice – only harder.
It’s still not easy to pass Montoya –
and it shouldn’t be – but he’s finally getting better at playing the game. During the Dover race, Montoya was bumped and
passed first by faster Kurt Busch and later by Jimmie Johnson. Each time everyone held their breath and
waited to see what would happen. Montoya
let them know he wasn’t happy with a nudge back, but in a way that didn’t wreck
both cars, as often happened in the past.
Newman still needs to learn that lesson, as we saw at Dover.
Montoya also seems to have learned after
eight years that he’s not going to win every race.
It used to be if the car wasn’t right, he’d try to carry it, often
crashing. Dover race winner Tony Stewart
has noticed a difference.
“I think he’s
come a long way in this series,” Stewart said.
“There’s people that you enjoy racing and that you hope you have that
battle with when it comes to racing for a win. Juan is on that list of guys
that I respect and would want to be in that scenario with.”
Montoya’s new driving style comes at the
same time the Ganassi Racing cars are benefiting from the off-season switch to
Hendrick Motorsports engines. He already
has three top 10 finishes this season, one than he had in all of a disastrous
2012. He was a contender to win at both
Dover and Richmond, two tracks where you would never think to put him your
fantasy team. He seems on the verge of
winning his first oval track race.
Montoya is still 22nd in points, so his
best hope to make the Chase is to win at least one race, two would be better,
while moving into the top 20 in points. And
with the two road course races still on the schedule, where he has his two
career NASCAR victories, he has chance, I think a good chance.
Montoya back in the Chase. That would be something to look forward to.
How can Montoya be in the chase? He can't even conduct a restart. He was quoted as "Jimmie was laying back and I let off to bring him even", what the hell was that?? Did Montoya know he was the leader? Why was he jacking with Jimmie? Montoya was the leader and should have been taking care of his own business. Again, did he know he was the leader? Come on Robin Pemberton, it was just exactly what it looked like, Montoya was jacking around and Jimmie went on, and the penalty is way too massive, and NASCAR wonders where 33 percent of the fans went.
ReplyDeleteDid JJ know that JJ was not the leader and that Montoya was?
DeleteMontoya, as the leader can control the start anyway he wishes.
JJ being *NOT* the leader has to make sure that whatever he decides to do, Montoya has to cross the star/finish line first.
It's as simple as that.
I only have one question, where did the Pablo come from. I watched him race open wheel in CART, he was Juan Montoya. I then watched him compete in F1 and again he was Juan Montoya. He gets to NA$CRAP and all of a sudden that's not good enough. Let me guess, some one with more money than common sense though it would be a good marketing idea. Any guess who that might be. Bet it's the same rocket scientist that came up with the chase.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what you are talking about. In F1, his car typically said 'Pablo' on it. http://www.formula1.com/wi/gi/597x478/25-G/sutton/2005/d05bra160.jpg
DeleteEven his driver's uniform said 'Pablo' on it. In fact it was written larger than 'Montoya'. http://www.formula1.com/wi/gi/597x478/Mszw/sutton/2005/d05bra1332.jpg