INDIANAPOLIS — Juan Pablo Montoya stormed onto the national motorsports scene in 1999 as a brash and fearless rookie who didn’t hesitate to go wheel to wheel with the biggest names.
The 23-year-old Montoya backed down from no one, didn’t hesitate to drive his car in the most precarious positions and charged hard in his pursuit of winning races. He collected seven wins and won the CART Series championship, then picked up three more series victories the next year.
But there was only one goal in 2000, the year Chip Ganassi Racing returned to the Indianapolis 500 after a four-year absence. Ganassi pushed hard for an Indy 500 win, and Montoya delivered in a monstrous way: The Colombian star led 167 of the 200 laps as he routed the field and beat runner-up Buddy Lazier by more than seven seconds. Then he was gone, off to Formula One for 5½ years and then for seven seasons in NASCAR. Montoya never looked back, never once considered another run at the Indianapolis 500.
Until now.
Now 38, Montoya is back in Indy- Car, driving for storied Team Penske, and after four races and two weeks of practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he’s comfortable again in the race car.
“I’m starting to get cockier and cockier and cockier in the car,” Montoya said. “Your confidence starts to grow. To be honest, I think I have a really good shot at winning it. I really do. With my oval experience in NASCAR and knowing this place really well, and being with Team Penske, chances of winning don’t come much better than that.”
That’s the attitude fans expected when Montoya made his return. But it wasn’t just like riding a bike for Montoya, who needed months of testing to relearn the car. It was make-or-break time at the season opener in March, when many fans thought Montoya would once again make the series look like his own personal playground.
He was not one of them.
“In the first race, I couldn’t outbrake anybody,” Montoya said. “In NASCAR, you never pass anybody into the corner, you pass everybody out of the corner. Here, you don’t pass anybody out of the corner. Everything is in the braking, and I haven’t outbraked anybody in seven years. So I had to relearn.”
Montoya had the fastest four-lap average — 231.007 mph — among drivers ineligible to win the pole and will start 10th on Sunday.
Indy 500 starting grid
1. (20) ED CARPENTER
Chevy, 2:35.7992, 231.067 mph
2. (27) JAMES HINCHCLIFFE
Honda, 2:35.9528, 230.839
3. (12) WILL POWER
Chevy, 2:36.0488, 230.697
4. (3) HELIO CASTRONEVES
Chevy, 2:36.0812, 230.649
5. (77) SIMON PAGENAUD
Honda, 2:36.1049, 230.614
6. (25) MARCO ANDRETTI
Honda, 2:36.1526, 230.544
7. (34) CARLOS MUNOZ
Honda, 2:36.4224, 230.146
8. (67) JOSEF NEWGARDEN
Honda, 2:36.5946, 229.893
9. (21) JR HILDEBRAND
Chevy, 2:37.3938, 228.726
10. (2) JUAN PABLO MONTOYA
Chevy, 2:35.8396, 231.007
11. (9) SCOTT DIXON
Chevy, 2:35.8930, 230.928
12. (26) KURT BUSCH
Honda, 2:35.9913, 230.782
13. (98) JACK HAWKSWORTH
Honda, 2:36.1779, 230.506
14. (19) JUSTIN WILSON
Honda, 2:36.3480, 230.256
15. (7) MIKHAIL ALESHIN
Honda, 2:36.4881, 230.049
16. (10) TONY KANAAN
Chevy, 2:36.5750, 229.922
17. (11) SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS
Chevy, 2:36.6259, 229.847
18. (16) ORIOL SERVIA
Honda, 2:36.6905, 229.752
19. (28) RYAN HUNTER-REAY
Honda, 2:36.7132, 229.719
20. (15) GRAHAM RAHAL
Honda, 2:36.7756, 229.628
21. (18) CARLOS HUERTAS
Honda, 2:37.0328, 229.251
22. (63) PIPPA MANN
Honda, 2:37.0521, 229.223
23. (14) TAKUMA SATO
Honda, 2:37.0671, 229.201
24. (68) ALEX TAGLIANI
Honda, 2:37.1038, 229.148
25. (6) TOWNSEND BELL
Chevy, 2:37.1990, 229.009
26. (83) CHARLIE KIMBALL
Chevy, 2:37.2376, 228.953
27. (5) JACQUES VILLENEUVE
Honda, 2:37.2400, 228.949
28. (33) JAMES DAVISON
Chevy, 2:37.2977, 228.865
29. (41) MARTIN PLOWMAN
Honda, 2:37.3333, 228.814
30. (8) RYAN BRISCOE
Chevy, 2:37.4028, 228.713
31. (22) SAGE KARAM
Chevy, 2:37.5931, 228.436
32. (17) SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA
Chevy, 2:37.8335, 228.088
33. (91) BUDDY LAZIER
Chevy, 2:37.9501, 227.920
