Montoya Grabs Top-10 At Martinsville
Results from Martinsville Speedway
1. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Chevrolet
8. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge
37. David Stremme, No. 40 Target House Dodge
41. Reed Sorenson, No. 41 Breast Cancer Awareness/Target Dodge
MONTOYA GRABS TOP-10 AT MARTINSVILLE
MARTINSVILLE, Va. (October 21, 2007) --- Juan Pablo Montoya and the No.42 Texaco/Havoline Team turned a 26th-place starting position into a top-10 finish Sunday at Martinsville Speedway. Although they seemed to be looking for a little more forward bite throughout the effort, Montoya and team overcame a couple of close calls to come in eighth at the end of the 500-lap competition. Montoya’s performance also earned him rookie of the race honors for the 14th time this season.
The No.42 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS) Dodge lined up just outside the top 25 to take the initial green flag on Sunday. Less than 20 laps into the run, Montoya and team were top-20 contenders.
Looking for a little more forward bite and trying to remediate a loose in, tight corner condition, Crew Chief Donnie Wingo called his driver into the pits for a wedge adjustment on lap 46 under the first yellow flag of the race. The over-the-wall team topped the stop off with four tires and fuel, and sent Montoya back on track in 22nd place.
Less than 30 laps after the field returned to green, cars began wrecking directly in Montoya’ s path on lap 92 but thanks to a combination of team spotter Tab Boyd’s quick direction and Montoya’s reflexes, the No.42 drove through the middle of the cars without a scratch. Racing resumed with the Texaco/Havoline Dodge in 21st place. Another yellow followed on lap 113 during which a good portion of the field pitted, but Wingo told his driver to stay out and the result was a third-place positioned No. 42 Dodge Avenger as racing resumed on lap 125.
The No.42 driver and crew turned Wingo’s good call into an even better one as they maintained a top-five run for more than 100 laps. Montoya moved into first place on lap 221, and proceeded to lead the field for nine laps until contact from the No.8 car driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. almost sent the No.42 wrecking into the wall. Luckily, Montoya kept a strong grip on his race car. He even maintained a top-five run until pitting under the ninth yellow flag of the race on lap 249.
The second half of the day was non-stop contact on the short track. Still, Montoya and team stood their ground in the top 10. In the closing 70 laps, the No.42 CGRFS Dodge was putting up laps as fast, and at points faster than the leader. Still trying to remedy a lack of forward bite, the long day came down to a green-white-checkered finish during which Montoya picked up one more position to score the eighth-place finish.
The eighth-place finish marked the team’s sixth top-10 in the 2007 NEXTEL Cup season. With a current tally of 3,103 points, Montoya moved up two spots in the NEXTEL Cup standings—tied for 19th—which also makes Montoya the highest ranked NEXTEL Cup rookie.
Up next, the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup teams will head to Atlanta Motor Speedway to run the Pep Boys Auto 500 on Sunday, October 28. The race will broadcast on ABC (LIVE, 1 p.m. EDT).
CGRFS Driver Quoteboard:
Juan Pablo Montoya: "We had a good day. We worked on the Texaco/Havoline Dodge and couldn’t get where we wanted to be, but I think in general it was a great day. A top 10 here, it’s a big deal. This was pretty good for a short track. We did the ultimate. We qualified bad, raced well and that is what you need to do. We were stronger on the shorter runs, but managed to keep up."
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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