Juan Pablo Montoya rallies at Daytona, solidifies Chase outlook
Earnhardt Ganassi Racing's Juan Pablo Montoya finished ninth in Saturday night's NASCAR Sprint Cup Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. // Gary Shook, NASCAR Scene
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – In spite of damage to his Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet early in the race, and a problem on pit road late, Juan Pablo Montoya was able to hang on and score a ninth-place finish Saturday night in the Coke Zero 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway.
Coupled with the problems of others, the result moved Montoya from 12th to 11th in the Sprint Cup point standings.
“I went in a little deep [in my pit stall] and I got stuck behind the 24 [of Jeff Gordon],” Montoya said of the lap-147 pit stop that saw him drop from fifth to 13th in the running order. “It was my fault.”
Once back under green, however, Montoya was able to slice his way through traffic and come away with his fifth top-10 finish in his last seven starts.
Damage to the Earnhardt Ganassi No. 42 Chevrolet early – Montoya was involved in a three-car crash with Matt Kenseth and Mark Martin just 13 laps into the 160-lap race – could have been the start of a long night.
But the team, led by crew chief Brian Pattie, was able to dial in the necessary changes to get their driver back in the thick of the battle, with the help of at least two “free passes.”
“We had a great car at the start. We damaged it a little bit when the 17 [of Matt Kenseth] and the 5 [of Mark Martin] got together, but our car and everybody on the crew did an amazing job today. We came back strong,” Montoya said.
“The car at the end wasn’t as fast as it was at the beginning of the race, but we still got another top-10 and that’s important.”
As for his ability to avoid a race-ending accident when trouble was lurking around every corner?
“It was just pure luck,” he admitted. “You see smoke and you think, ‘[Go] low? High? Pray?’
“At the beginning we could stay with the leaders and at the end we couldn’t. We had a hole in the right side of the car and that didn’t help at all.”
