Sonoma, Calif. – Juan Pablo Montoya showed off his road racing prowess again Sunday, grabbing his first NASCAR Nextel Cup win.
Montoya, who qualified a disappointing 32nd in the 43-car field, was the first driver to win on the Northern California road circuit starting further back than 13th. And he pulled it off with a combination of patience and skill at Infineon Raceway.
The Colombian driver, who jumped from Formula One to the stock car circuit late last season, got his first Cup win in his 17th start and gave team owner Chip Ganassi his first win in NASCAR’s top series since Jamie McMurray won in October 2002.
“It’s huge,” Montoya said. “I would say right now it’s the biggest thing I’ve done. In open- wheel, that’s what I was meant to be winning in. In stock cars, I wasn’t.
“To get our first win in our first year is huge. We know we’re a little bit behind on some of the ovals, but I think this is a big boost for everybody working in the shop.”
Montoya, whose only other NASCAR victory came earlier this year in a Busch Series race on the road course in Mexico City, passed McMurray, who now drives for Roush Fenway Racing, eight laps from the end. Montoya easily stayed in front of runner-up Kevin Harvick in the 110-lap event on the 1.99-mile, 12-turn course.
“I was very surprised by the level of the drivers here on the road course,” Montoya said. “In Mexico, we had a really good car and the top five cars were really strong. But, behind that, it was really easy.”
Montoya was running third, trailing leader McMurray and Harvick and conserving fuel with 18 laps to go. But Montoya passed Harvick on lap 92 and began to track down McMurray.
“The top 20 was really like, phew. You had to work for your money,” Montoya said. “What really paid off at the end was I was just running behind Kevin, saving the tires and trying to keep up with him. I did that for 10, 15 laps and I started pushing, I started making up ground on them and that’s when everything fell into place.”
The winner got past McMurray for a moment on lap 102, driving his Dodge past McMurray’s Ford in the slow hairpin near the end of the circuit. But Montoya got too wide and McMurray was able to squeeze by.
The pass that counted came in turn two on lap 104, with Montoya getting under McMurray’s car and passing easily.
