Montoya Earns 2007 Raybestos Rookie Of The Year Honors
Results from Homestead-Miami Speedway
1. Matt Kenseth, No. 17 Ford
11. David Stremme, No. 40 Target Dodge
15. Juan Pablo Montoya, No.42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge
22. Reed Sorenson, No.41 Target Dodge
MONTOYA EARNS 2007 RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR HONORS
Finishes 15th in Season Finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (November 18, 2007) --- Juan Pablo Montoya, with the support of his Texaco/Havoline team, won the 2007 Raybestos Rookie of the Year title following his 15th-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Montoya became the fourth driver for Texaco/Havoline to earn the prestigious honor. He joins Davey Allison (1987), Kenny Irwin, Jr. (1998) and Jamie McMurray (2003). It is the second time Crew Chief Donnie Wingo and his Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates crew led a rookie to the title after working with McMurray three years ago. Montoya and the team also moved up one spot in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings to finish in the season inside the top 20.
Montoya started the 267-lap race from the 33rd position, but had battled his way up to 16th when green-flag pit stops began on lap 46. Several teams had pitted before the caution waved on lap 50, but not Montoya and his Texaco/Havoline crew. Wingo called him down pit road on lap 53 for four tires and fuel. When racing resumed on lap 57 Montoya was fourth, with 15 cars on the tail end of the lead lap. The caution waved again on the restart.
Montoya told the Texaco/Havoline crew the car was tight in the center and loose off, a condition that would only worsen as the day went on and the sun set. Montoya would remain in the top 10 through the caution on lap 149. The team made air pressure adjustments while fitting the car with fresh tires. He returned to the track in the 11th position as several teams made two-tire stops.
The Texaco/Havoline Dodge remained quick throughout the race, but unbalanced. Wingo and the team continued to make changes on the car, including adding a spring rubber and several chassis adjustments. With less than 50 laps remaining, another round of green-flag stops began. Montoya was the last car on the lead lap in 16th on lap 248, but the No. 20 car spun on lap 253 to bring out the caution. Wingo had Montoya remain on the track to finish the final race of the 2007 season 15th.
Montoya and the Texaco/Havoline team finished the season with one win, three top-five and six top-10 finishes. Montoya was Raybestos Rookie of the Race 16 times in 36 races, and finished 24 points ahead of David Ragan in the final rookie standings.
CGRFS Quoteboard
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: "This season has been a great season for me and the Texaco/Havoline team. Earning the Rookie of the Year title is an honor and it means a lot to me, my team and our sponsors. We won a race, and that was very important this year. I’ve been a rookie before in a lot of series, but being a rookie in stock cars with no experience was very different. Even though I had never driven stock cars, I raced a ton of different cars during my open wheel career. This is pretty cool. I think it’s good for the team. I think it’s something to cheer about within the team. I think more important is how the performance of the team came up through the entire year. Where we started and where we finished is a big difference."
DONNIE WINGO: "This has been a good year, we had some ups and downs though. Today we kind of struggled, but we were good through the sunlight and when it got dark and got cool we just got real loose and just never could get it back. Juan has come a long way this season. I think the fact today that he was able to run it as loose as he could is a big improvement from where we started. At the beginning of the year we were really, really tight and today we were just too loose. We struggled a little bit with it today but all in all we had a good car and everybody did a good job. And to win Raybestos Rookie of the Year again, it’s pretty much the same group that won it with McMurray so it means a lot [smiles]."
About Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
With 13 wins already in 2007, including the company’s best stretch in history with six victories in 30 days, CGRFS continues to add to its tally of 89 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 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 56 wins since 1994; his NASCAR teams have 12 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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