Race Report - Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway
Results from Texas Motor Speedway
1. Carl Edwards, No. 99 Ford
19. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. Texaco/Havoline Dodge
24. Reed Sorenson, No. 41 Target Dodge
MONTOYA FINISHES 19TH IN TEXACO/HAVOLINE DODGE AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FORT WORTH, Texas. (April 6, 2008) --- Juan Pablo Montoya drove his Texaco/Havoline Dodge to a 19th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, earning the No. 42 team its sixth top-20 finish in seven races this season. The finish did drop the team two spots in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings to 19th, but Montoya still sits just 135 points out of 12th, the cut-off to the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Montoya started the Samsung 500 from the 11th spot after his qualifying effort on Friday. The Texaco/Havoline Dodge was inconsistent during the entire 339-lap race. Initially the car started out loose into the corner, tight through the center and loose off the corner. Montoya slipped back several spots through the first run, but Crew Chief Donnie Wingo knew they would have plenty of time throughout the race to adjust on the No. 42 Dodge.
Unfortunately after each adjustment, the car seemed to go from one extreme to the other. With just six caution flags throughout the race and several green-flag pit stops, the team was doing its best from losing laps. Unfortunately, the leader was setting a blazing pace that left just 10 cars on the lead lap, and eight cars one lap down. For Montoya and teammate Reed Sorenson, the long green-flag runs dropped them to two laps down.
A late-race caution waved with less than 10 laps to go after the No. 1 car lost an engine with Montoya running 24th. It took NASCAR several laps to clean up the oil and Wingo made the call to leave Montoya on the track instead of pitting. Several cars that were on the same lap as the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge decided to pit, moving Montoya up four spots to 19th for the green-white-checkered flag race to the finish. Montoya held off his competitors to finish the first car two laps down and earn the top-20 finish
Montoya has completed all but four laps this season, completing 99.8 percent of the laps run over the first seven races. Up next for the No. 42 team is Phoenix International Raceway where they tested earlier this year.
About Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
With 13 wins in 2007, CGRFS continues to add to its tally of 90 trips to victory lane. 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 Sprint Cup Series, two entries in the NASCAR Nationwide Series and a Daytona Prototype in the world of Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series racing. Ganassi’s IndyCar teams have amassed five Championships and 56 wins since 1994; his NASCAR teams have 12 wins and two Rookie-of-the-Year titles; and the Grand American team has won two Rolex Series Daytona Prototype Championships and are the three-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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