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Montoya and Team Leave Richmond
in 26th Place
RICHMOND, VA (May 6, 2007)—Although Juan Pablo Montoya and the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline team started with a fairly strong top-15 run the first 100 laps of the 400-lap competition at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) on Sunday, a tap from the No. 12 car on lap 119 sent the No. 42 up into the No. 70 car and then just turned the CGRFS team's entire day around on them as their Dodge never handled right after the hit. Montoya and team didn't give up. Instead, they took the setback that sent them sailing into 38th place and stuck it out to call it a day in 26th.
In the beginning laps of the Crown Royal 400, the Texaco/Havoline team was working on improving its car's forward bite and tight-handling in the corners of the .75-mile Virginia track. Montoya took his 16th-place start and managed to maintain a top-15 run from lap three through lap 119, when he was tapped by the No. 12 car. From that point on, the No. 42 team worked to further address the earlier mishandling problems, in addition to the damage sustained from the incident. Unfortunately, the hit bent the track bar down onto the truck arm which made it hard for the team to make some of the needed adjustments to the No. 42 Dodge.
By the end of the day, Montoya was scored 26th. His teammates Reed Sorenson and David Stremme finished 21st and 38th respectively.
The No. 42 Texaco/Havoline team dropped to 21st in the overall NEXTEL Cup standings, now 212 points outside the top 10.
Up next, the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup teams will head to Darlington Raceway to run the Dodge Avenger 500 on Saturday, May 12. The race will broadcast on FOX (LIVE, 7 p.m. ET).
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