Race Report - Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway
Results from Pocono Raceway
1. Carl Edwards, No. 99 Ford
35. Reed Sorenson, No. 41 Target Dodge
40. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge
BLOWN ENGINE SHORTENS DAY FOR MONTOYA AT POCONO
LONG POND, Pa. (August 3, 2008) --- Juan Pablo Montoya and the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge had issues at Pocono Raceway from the drop of the green flag. Montoya and team were able to overcome early issues and battle back into the top 20, but a dropped valve on lap 145 ended the team’s day. Montoya was credited with a 40th-place finish and slipped to 25th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings.
Montoya and the team worked on qualifying during the two practice sessions on Friday and also got in a few mock race runs. Despite being just the fourth car out to qualify, Montoya posted a lap time that earned him another top-15 starting position. As the team prepared for practice on Saturday heavy rain fell and NASCAR canceled all on-track activity for the day.
As the green flag waved for Sunday’s 500-mile race at Pocono, Montoya told Crew Chief Brian Pattie the car was on seven cylinders. Fortunately for the team, the caution waved on the first lap as the No. 29 and No. 78 car were involved in a wreck. Montoya pulled down pit road and the team determined there was a bad spark plug wire. The team fell a lap down to the leader on pit road before racing resumed on lap four. The caution waved three laps later and the team was able to replace the plug wire and receive the free pass back onto the lead lap. Montoya was in 43rd when racing resumed on lap 11.
NASCAR waved a competition caution on lap 20, so Montoya brought the Texaco/Havoline Dodge down pit road for fresh tires and a wedge adjustment. Racing resumed on lap 24 with Montoya now in 35th. Montoya quickly began moving up through the field and by lap 31 was back in the top 25. Pattie told Montoya to take it easy on the right-front tire, but the car was so quick that Montoya maneuvered his way up to 20th when green flag pit stops began on lap 50.
Montoya pitted on lap 53 for tires and fuel, and gained two additional spots before the caution waved on lap 65. The team pitted again for four fresh tires and fuel. Many teams elected to take two tires on their stops dropping Montoya to 26th for the restart on lap 70. It didn’t take him long to work his way back into the top 20 on four new tires.
Montoya radioed in to the team the car had misfired but ok. At lap 100, the car became extremely tight and Montoya began dropping back in the field. He told Pattie he thought something broke, because the car suddenly became slow and difficult to drive. The team determined there was a hole in the nose of the car and repaired it on lap 129 just as rain began to fall over the track. NASCAR red flagged the race on lap 130, but was able to restart the race after a short delay.
Montoya told the team he lost a cylinder again on lap 141 and his spotter also said smoke was coming out of the tail pipe. The engine expired on lap 145 and Montoya drove it to the garage in the 40th position.
Quote from Pattie
"Our day started off bad when we burned up the number five spark plug wire. We changed it out and Juan drove all the way up to 18th position without us making any real big changes or having a real strategy – so we knew our Texaco/Havoline Dodge was really good. Around lap 70, the car got real tight for some reason and we just couldn’t figure it out. We threw all sorts of changes at it and nothing seemed to work. The engine may have been laying over, I’m just not sure yet. On that last caution (lap 139), it dropped a cylinder and ended up blowing something in the engine. We will go back to the shop and figure out what went wrong before we head to Watkins Glen."
Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates
With 13 wins already in 2008, the team continues to add to its tally of 102 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, and along with Felix Sabates he has two cars in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, one entry 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 63 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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