Montoya 21st at Chicagoland in the USG Durock 300
Results from Chicago
1. Kevin Harvick, No. 21 Chevrolet
15. Reed Sorenson, No. 41 Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit® Dodge
21. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge
MONTOYA 21ST AT CHICAGOLAND
JOLIET, Ill. (July 14, 2007) --- Juan Pablo Montoya and the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Busch team lined up 17th to take the green flag Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway in the USG Durock 300. Just five laps into their run Montoya told his team he had his hands full with a stubborn-handling No. 42 Dodge. Although, they never quite broke free from the tight condition, the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) driver and team made the most of the situation to score a 21st-place finish.
Montoya radioed crew chief Brian Pattie shortly into his run to tell him the car was way too tight on power and too tight to run the high side of the track. Still, the Colombian native managed to hold onto a top-20 running position before pitting under green-flag conditions for major adjustments on lap 60. Pattie had his team take half of a spring rubber out of the left rear of the car and then topped the stop off with four tires and fuel. As the rest of the Busch teams cycled through their green-flag stops, the No. 42 Dodge settled back inside the top 20.
Unfortunately, the adjustments made didn’t seem to improve the car’s handling so the team pitted under yellow on lap 82 to put the spring rubber back in the left rear. With just a little more than 100 laps remaining, they worked to make the most of their run to score the 21st-place finale. Montoya’s teammate Reed Sorenson finished 15th.
The No. 42 Busch team held onto its 15th-place position in the overall NASCAR Busch Series owner points. The Texaco/Havoline team is just 155 points outside the top 10.
Montoya will take next weekend off along with the rest of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series drivers while Kevin Hamlin goes racing with the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline team at Gateway International Raceway next Saturday, July 21. The NASCAR Busch Series race will broadcast on ESPN2 (LIVE, 8 p.m. ET).
About Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
Following a strong career as a driver, Chip Ganassi created his own one-car IndyCar team in 1990 and established a partnership with a new sponsor, Target. Today, his teams include two IRL IndyCars, one Indy Pro Series car and along with Felix Sabates he has three cars in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, two entries in the NASCAR Busch Series and two Daytona Prototypes in the world of Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series racing. Ganassi’s IndyCar teams have amassed five Championships and 53 wins since 1994; his NASCAR teams have 11 wins and a Rookie-of-the-Year title; and the Grand American team has won two of the last three Rolex Series Daytona Prototype Championships and are the two-time defending Champions of the Rolex 24 At Daytona. Chip Ganassi Racing operates out of state-of-the-art race shop facilities in Indianapolis, Ind., and Concord, N.C., with a corporate office in Pittsburgh, Pa.
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