7 reasons to watch the NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway: No. 5 - Juan Pablo Montoya

By Art Weinstein - Managing Editor
Thursday, October 15, 2009

It was Mark Twain, the 19th century American humorist and writer, who popularized the statement: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.”

That quote comes to mind when I think of Juan Pablo Montoya in the Chase For The Sprint Cup. In the four Chase races to date, the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver has shown that his past NASCAR statistics have zero relevance in predicting how he’ll perform.

Case in point: Montoya had seven top-five finishes in his first 99 Sprint Cup starts. That’s good, but certainly not great.

Now, Montoya has four consecutive top-fives to start the Chase. That’s Jimmie Johnson-esque.

That’s why we can look at Montoya’s career statistics at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and shrug. He has never led a lap at LMS. In five races there, his average finish is 27.4, his worst figure of any track on the Sprint Cup circuit.

Forget the statistics. I’m betting Montoya leads a bunch of laps and knocks down another top-five finish Saturday in the NASCAR Banking 500.

And that’s no lie.

Comments

3 responses to "7 reasons to watch the NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway: No. 5 - Juan Pablo Montoya". Post a Comment.
  1. 1
    STP43FAN said:
    Oct 15, 2009 at 12:23 PM

    Montoya has never shown ability to sustain success.

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  2. 2
    gatenpin said:
    Oct 15, 2009 at 8:27 PM

    JPM is not ever the reason I watch a NASCAR race. He is at the tail end of my favorite drivers. I do not think he will get the championship and his one bad race will surely come during this chase. He has been really lucky and that cannot last forever.

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  3. 3
    jiome said:
    Oct 16, 2009 at 12:07 PM

    Juan Pablo do not have CAR to show his potential before this season.

    JPM is the reason of millions people are watching Nascar races AOWTWN (read : all over the world, now).
    He´s the favorite of fans since his IndyCAR and Formula One´s performance. Sooner or then JPM will get Sprint Cup Championship; may he has a bad race , but his pedigree will be recognized for all.

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