Race Report - UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Results from Las Vegas Motor Speedway
1. Carl Edwards, No. 99 Ford
18. Reed Sorenson, No. 41 Target Dodge
19. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge
33. Dario Franchitti, No. 40 Target Dodge
TOP-20 FINISH FOR MONTOYA AND TEXACO/HAVOLINE TEAM
LAS VEGAS, Nev. (March 2, 2008) --- Juan Pablo Montoya and the Texaco/Havoline team rallied from falling almost two laps down at the midpoint of the UAW-Dodge Dealers 400 to finish 19th and on the lead lap in a back-up car. Montoya and the team battled a loose handling Dodge the entire race weekend in Las Vegas, but never gave up and after making massive changes to the car earned the top-20 finish. Their persistence also bumped them up three spots in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings from 27th to 24th.
The first challenge of the weekend came in the first practice when Montoya lost control of his Texaco/Havoline Dodge and hit the outside wall. The team pulled out the back up car and was able to get a few laps around the track before practice concluded. Montoya then posted a qualifying time which earned him the 31st-starting spot for Sunday’s race.
Montoya told Crew Chief Donnie Wingo and team the car was extremely loose shortly after the green flag dropped for the 267-lap event. By lap 40, the leader passed the Texaco/Havoline Dodge which was running in the 37th position. Montoya fell back as far as 39th when the caution fell on lap 68. Wingo called for an air pressure adjustment in both rear tires and the addition of a spring rubber in the left rear. Racing resumed on lap 75 with the No. 42 in 34th.
Despite the changes the Texaco/Havoline team made on the car, Montoya was still extremely loose and unable to crack the top 30. When the caution flag waved on lap 178, Montoya brought the car down pit road twice; once to give the crew the opportunity to change tires and once to adjust the camber on the black and red Dodge. The green flag waved on lap 183 with Montoya in 32nd and the change appeared to help the handling. After 30 green-flag laps, Montoya was now sitting 26th and the fifth car one lap down.
Montoya battled on the track and Wingo made the call to keep him on the track in the closing laps to put the team in position to earn its lap back. On lap 256, the team received the break it needed when the caution flag waved. The ability to earn the free pass back onto the lead lap expires with 10 laps remaining in a race, and the team was half a lap away from falling into 10 laps to go. Montoya passed the pace car and brought the Texaco/Havoline Dodge to pit road for fresh tires. Now within 10 laps, it was a single-file restart. Unfortunately, Montoya had to start at the tail end of the longest line which was the lap down lane. Wingo and Montoya discussed hanging back a bit because they knew another caution would wave and they could get into the mix. They didn’t have to wait long as the leaders began wrecking on the restart on lap 262.
NASCAR displayed the red flag, and after cleaning up the track dropped the green flag for a two lap shootout with Montoya in 21st. He was able to pick up two spots in the closing laps to earn an improbable top-20 finish.
CGRFS Quoteboard
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: "It was a tough day for the Texaco/Havoline team. We went a lap down really early because the car was a handful. We came in and changed a bunch of things during the race and none of us gave up, that was the biggest difference. We managed to go from running 35th to the top 20. It’s a shame, because we got better but we just ran out of time."
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