The usually aggressive Juan Pablo Montoya played it relatively safe during NASCAR's regular season to avoid poor finishes and qualify for its Chase for the Sprint Cup championship playoff.
Now that he's in the Chase, Montoya is back to his old ways.
"There's no holding back, nothing, we have to go," Montoya told reporters today in a teleconference after the Colombian finished third in the first Chase race, at New Hampshire, on his 34th birthday Sunday -- and after banging into a few of his competitors.
Kansas: Kyle Busch race report
Racing series | NASCAR-CUP |
Date | 2009-10-04 |
M&M's Team Runs Strong Before Scrape with Wall Slows Progress to Front
Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), overcame a mid-race scrape with the wall and rallied for a 12th-place finish in Sunday's Price Chopper 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
"We didn't qualify well, but our M&M's Camry was strong enough to get up to the top-10 at one point," said Busch, who notched his second top-15 finish in six starts at Kansas. "We had a good car with our balance, but it didn't have the speed that we needed. We still hung up there toward the front, even though we got into the fence, there. We didn't have a winning car, but it was probably good enough for a seventh- or eighth-place finish if we didn't have the damage."
While he started in the 34th spot, Busch made an impressive charge in his M&M's Toyota and was up to 17th by lap 67.
Throughout the course of the day's first few pit stops, crew chief Steve Addington ordered track-bar and air-pressure changes in hopes of aiding the M&M's Toyota that was tight in the center but loose off the corner. With the help of strong pit stops by the M&M's over-the-wall crew, Busch slowly gained track position and moved all the way up to seventh by lap 137 of the 267-lap race.
But soon after a restart just past the halfway point, the Las Vegas native ran into trouble as he was following three cars in front of him for position. He got in their dirty air and his No. 18 M&M's Toyota Camry brushed the SAFER barrier on the outside retaining wall of turn two on lap 164, damaging the right side of his car. While the scrape with the wall was not enough to force Busch to pit, it was enough to drop him from 10th to 17th as he held on for the next chance to pit, which finally came under green-flag conditions on lap 207.
Busch was in 15th place shortly after the aforementioned lap 207 stop, but caught a break as the caution flew on lap 236, sending him to pit road for four tires, an air pressure adjustment, and another strong stop from the M&M's team. From there, Busch rallied furiously, eventually settling for the 12th-place finish and getting the most out of his racecar after the mid-race scrape with the wall.
"On one of those restarts, I got into some dirty air from the three cars racing in front of me and just misjudged it and got my right side into the fence," said Busch of the lap 164 scrape with the wall. "We just had to tread water and wait until the next pit stop, but I'm really proud of the M&M's guys for hanging in there, battling back, and getting a decent finish after getting into the wall like that."
Busch's JGR teammates -- Denny Hamlin and rookie Joey Logano -- finished fifth and 28th, respectively.
With only seven races remaining in the Sprint Cup season, Hamlin leads the JGR trio in the championship point standings, as he is JGR's lone representative in the 12-driver Chase for the Championship. Hamlin held his sixth position in the standings, 99 markers behind Chase leader Mark Martin. Busch gained one spot to move up to 13th in the standings while Logano maintained his 20th position in the standings.
Tony Stewart beat Jeff Gordon by .894 of a second to win the Price Chopper 400 and score his 37th career Sprint Cup victory, his fourth of the season and his second at Kansas, as he also won at the 1.5-mile oval in 2006.
Greg Biffle finished third, while Juan Pablo Montoya and Hamlin rounded out the top-five. Kasey Kahne, Martin, David Reutimann, Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were six caution periods for 23 laps, with eight drivers failing to finish the 267-lap race.
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Oct. 11 Pepsi 500 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. The race begins at 3:15 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at 2:30 p.m.
-credit: jgr
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Steambo14 has an image of JPM as a cocky, careless, impolite person, and I couldn?t agree more, I watch him drive since he was in CART, and hey, he was one cocky hot shot wanabee. But let me tell you something, I?m Colombian too and I think that if he had a little more of charisma, he?d be everybody?s hero. I personally admire him, caus this is a sport and he is a winner, and a hard worker and determined person. Plus he respects Martin and Jimmy Johson, two of the best in NASCAR.
1booger4u, stop crying, he figured out how to win withouth wrecking his car trying to achieve wins, BIG DEAL!!!
For all the rest, thanks for being objective and not racist as I have seen in many forums, let?s hope he learns how to talk and actually say something, without lifting up his shoulders as a 5 year old. GO 42 GO!!!!!!
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Steambo14 asks when Montoya has ever did anything in NASCAR before? Dude, he is in his third season and made the chase. The guy had no experience in stock cars at all. I think winning a race and making the chase in just three years is pretty impressive. After all, most of the field have been racing stock cars the majority of their lives.
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anyone who is a race fan, loves to follow strategy moves, and keep track of stats has got to see that JPM is making it happen when it comes to running up front and staying there race after race. Regardless of your like or dislike of the driver, JPM is a smart driver and fierce competitor. GO GET'EM JUAN
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Steambo14 wrote the following at 9/30/2009 6:36:25 AM
"This guy is worse than Kyle Bush when it comes to talking to people. No respect at all. He has had a very good year this year but when has he ever did anything in Nascar before? Lets wait and see if he's a one year wonder or can he make the chase year in and out. My bet is on the latter."
By saying your bet is on the latter, you are saying your bet is on him being able to make the chase year in and year out, which isn't exactly the vibe one gets from your comments.
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This guy is doing this practically as one car team compare to the rest. You have to respect the crew chief and JP. These two have clicked and this is only the beginning. So many known drivers have been in nascar longer than JP and they wish they could have done what he and his crew chief have done in so little time. I won't be surprised if he takes this at his home in Fl. and if he doesn't then he and crew chief can only look up. Go JP
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Steambo14
What is there to say except to plug his sponsors, and say i just went around the track like i was supposed to. Wait till next year drivers will scream into the mike and threaten other drivers.
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Nascar is terrible. A playoff system that is stupid. Dont call this a sport because it is not! Since Dale Earnharts death nascar has lost the excitment it once had.
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This guy is worse than Kyle Bush when it comes to talking to people. No respect at all. He has had a very good year this year but when has he ever did anything in Nascar before? Lets wait and see if he's a one year wonder or can he make the chase year in and out. My bet is on the latter.
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Great comment RCP5691.
Dear NASCAR, I was a casual fan of this form of autosport until JPM moved into the mix. His involvement has led me to 1) watch it every weekend, 2) frankly, give a d_mn , 3) talk other F1 fans into taking it seriously and now they watch. Good move NASCAR, good move Chip and Felix!
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Well Hambree's final comment in this article manages to throw in a Grateful Dead and a Beatles song reference. But JBM will not win the sprint cup this year. But he has shown himself to a force in NASCAR this season. I'm inclined to feel I'd rather see him win it then to see Johnson win it again.
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Hmmm Reference to sucking a shot gun sounds a lot like our ex-friend, the perverted JJ3Peat, would say. Guess he has been released. Maybe some day he will actually get a real life.
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Montoya will win it all only after France and Hendrick come out of the closet and admit to being an item.
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Snaggle says some of the stupidest **** I have ever seen. Who the hell is this guy that is without a doubt puffing the rock? Get the **** on a puff a shotgun pal.
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