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Top-Five Finish for Montoya and
Texaco/Havoline Team
ATLANTA, GA (March 18, 2007)—Juan Pablo Montoya, making only his fifth start on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup circuit, drove the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge to a fifth-place finish in Sunday's race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Montoya scored Rookie of the Race honors for the second straight week and unofficially took the lead in the rookie standings by one point over David Ragan. He now sits 15th in the overall standings, just 28 points out of the top 10.
Montoya and the Texaco/Havoline team started the 325-lap race from the 16th position. Although the car was loose entering the corner and tight through the center at the start of the event, Donnie Wingo and the crew worked on the car and were able to get it working better for Montoya before the midpoint of the race. Montoya restarted the race on lap 147 in the 12th position and was sitting in the top 10 through a round of green-flag pit stops on lap 194.
He was running the very top line of the track, a line very few drivers were attempting, and passing his competitors one-by-one. He was turning the quickest times on the track on lap 208 and passed the No. 8 car on lap 213 to move into the top five. The caution flag waved on lap 222 and Montoya told Wingo the car was just a "little too tight in the middle of the corner." Wingo told Montoya they wouldn't make any adjustment because he was the fastest car on the track.
Montoya maneuvered around the No. 07 car on lap 245 to take over fourth and passed the No. 99 car on lap 247 for third. The caution flag waved again on lap 271and Montoya brought the Texaco/Havoline Dodge down pit road. Wingo made a slight air pressure adjustment and the crew performed a routine pit stop. Montoya was fourth for the restart on lap 274. He battled with lapped down cars following the restart and wasn't able to make any ground up on the front three. When NASCAR threw the caution flag for debris on lap 309, Wingo called him down pit road for fresh tires.
Montoya went on the high side when the green flag dropped on lap 314, but ran out of track and scraped the wall trying to get around the No. 48 car. The brush with the wall caused some damage to the right rear of the Texaco/Havoline car and the No. 31 was able to get around Montoya. Over the final three laps Montoya battled with the No. 07 car to hold onto the fifth position. He crossed the finish line a nose ahead to earn his first-career top-five finish in the NEXTEL Cup Series.
On Saturday, Montoya and his Texaco/Havoline NASCAR Busch Series team earned their second top-10 finish of the season with an eighth-place effort in the Nicorette 300. Montoya leads the Rookie standings in the Busch Series and now sits 10th in the overall driver standings.
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