Jeff Gluck: No way NASCAR didn't want Juan Pablo Montoya to win at Indy
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's Juan Pablo Montoya led 116 laps, but was flagged for speeding on pit road, in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. // David Griffin, NASCAR Scene
COMMENTARY
INDIANAPOLIS - There’s a group of conspiracy theorists out there who believe that NASCAR somehow didn’t want Juan Pablo Montoya to win at Indianapolis, which is pretty stupid if you think about it.
Even if NASCAR did manipulate the results or mess with timing and scoring, why would they screw Montoya - or anyone not related to Hendrick Motorsports these days?
If you haven’t been paying attention, cars related to those fielded by team owner Rick Hendrick are running away with the 2009 season. If you include Stewart-Haas Racing (which runs Hendrick chassis and motors) and Brad Keselowski’s Hendrick-powered Talladega win, the organization has won 11 of the last 15 races.
Hendrick-related drivers are 1-2-3 in the standings and make up five of the top nine names in the standings.
And, by the way, Hendrick has won the last three championships.
Enough already.
Hendrick really isn’t doing NASCAR any favors. No one likes to see one team dominate a sport, which is why people have hated the New England Patriots and New York Yankees for so long.
Sports are the most fun when different drivers and teams win. NASCAR knows this. And if you don’t think it wants fresh faces and teams in the Chase For The Sprint Cup and in victory lane, then we already disagree to the point where you might as well stop reading this column.
Along those lines, you’d have to be a little crazy to think NASCAR wouldn’t want to see Montoya in victory lane - and at the Brickyard of all places, where the Colombia native is a former Indy 500 winner.
A Montoya victory would have sparked a fantastic feel-good storyline heading down the Chase stretch, and a great alternative to all the Hendrick-related storylines this season.
Tony Stewart leading the points? Amazing, but it’s Hendrick-related.
Mark Martin’s resurgence at age 50? Unreal, but it’s thanks to Hendrick.
Jimmie Johnson going after four straight Cup titles? You-know-who is the owner who makes it all happen.
Look, Rick Hendrick might be the nicest guy on the planet - which some people say he is - but even if Mother Teresa went on a run like this, it’d get old after awhile.
For awhile there, it seemed like the anti-Hendrick guy was Kyle Busch. But you can’t count on him as the Hendrick alternative now; he’s slid backward in the standings at an alarming rate.
Roush Fenway Racing’s Chase drivers Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth have done absolutely nothing to make anyone believe they could be Cup contenders this season.
And it’s hard to imagine Dodge drivers Kasey Kahne and Kurt Busch mounting a charge to take down the Hendrick cars, either.
So who’s left? Montoya.
He’s the only guy lately (aside from Hendrick cars) who’s been ticking off top-10 after top-10, and his Indy run showed he’s actually serious about a championship run this year.
Sure, it didn’t work out for Montoya at the Brickyard, but there will be other days. And for the anti-Hendrick crowd right now, he’s really all you’ve got.
And unless NASCAR wants to be on the stage in Las Vegas handing Hendrick another championship trophy, he’s all they’ve got right now, too.
So if you're really stuck on the idea that NASCAR didn't want Montoya to win at Indy, it's time to get a new hobby.
