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Fresh from Kentucky wreck, Montoya qualifies second in ARCA debut
By Bob Pockrass
Friday, October 06, 2006
BAMBI MATTILA / NASCAR SCENE
TALLADEGA, Ala. - Juan Pablo Montoya had a message for his crew about his car after wrecking during a test session earlier this week in Turn 2 at Kentucky Speedway:
"I'm glad you've got, like, 60 of them," he said. "Hopefully there won't be as many, but there will be [crashes]."
Relaying the story after qualifying second for the ARCA Food World 250 on Thursday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway, Montoya talked about his first test in a Nextel Cup car as he prepares for a full-time 2007 Cup quest for Chip Ganassi Racing in the No. 42 Dodge.
He said he doesn't feel comfortable driving a loose car yet, but he now knows what it's like to hit the wall.
"I got my first crash out of the way at Kentucky two days ago," said Montoya, a former CART and Indy 500 champion who has spent the last four-plus season competing in Formula One but has never competed in stock cars. "It didn't hurt as much as I thought it was going to. From that point of view, I'm relieved. ... The car was very loose in the middle.
"You hear them talking all the time that the car is very loose and they keep going. I thought it should be OK and I should be able to run it a lot further out than an open-wheel [car]. No, you can't. When it goes, it goes. I learned my lesson, I guess."
Montoya said he has no idea what his schedule will be beyond driving in the "car of tomorrow" test Monday at Talladega and then heading to Memphis Motorsports Park on Tuesday for another Cup test.
As for his ARCA car, Montoya posted a lap of 189.451 mph, to start on the outside of the front row next to Bobby Gerhart (189.465 mph).
Montoya said the car moved around a little more than he is used to in traffic, but he felt pretty good in practice. He said the perspective in a stock car is better than in an F1 car because there is no high rear wing blocking a driver's view of the car in front of him.
"We've got a really good and competitive car," Montoya said. "The main goal for me here is to really prepare myself for next year and learn how the drafting works and where I need to be.
"I probably am going to get caught up a couple of times tomorrow doing the wrong moves, but that's part of the learning curve."
Mentioned Drivers: Juan Pablo Montoya
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