It was a long-time coming, but Juan Pablo Montoya finally is back in victory lane in the Sprint Cup Series.
Montoya claimed his second victory in the series with a dominating performance in Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen at Watkins Glen International.
The 34-year-old Colombian led 74 of 90 laps around the 2.45-mile road course and easily beat Kurt Busch at the finish by 4.7 seconds to snap a 113-race winless streak in NASCAR’s top-tier series. His first win came in June 2007 at the road course in Sonoma, CA.
“It’s been a long time to get another one,” Montoya said. MiamiHerald.com
“We’ve got Indy 500 champions who come over here and can’t succeed,” said Brian Pattie, Montoya’s crew chief. “I think Juan is probably the exception to the rule. It’s hard. This is the top of the ladder. You can talk F1 as far as worldwide, but as far as competition, I think you’re looking at it.”
Montoya made the Chase last season but failed to score a win. Close calls this year built to a level of frustration that led Montoya to inject some criticism into team radio communications last week at Pocono, and team principals had a meeting with team owner Chip Ganassi Saturday.
“The last few weeks have been really frustrating for the whole team because we’ve been so close to victory,” Montoya said. “It seemed to keep slipping away. To come here today and get the job done the way we did today, it was big. I feel more relieved than happy right now. It’s been a really hard road in a way. It’s been a lot of fun, but it’s been frustrating.” FOXNews
“To come out here [Sunday] and get the job done the way we did [Sunday], it was big. I feel more relieved than happy right now. It’s been a really hard road in a way. It’s been a lot of fun; it’s been frustrating.
“[Saturday] it was all about making sure everybody is on the same page, everybody has to do their job, and we came out [Sunday] and everybody executed. It’s something Brian keeps saying, ‘Keep saving the car, keep saving the car, keep saving the car.’ And it paid off.”
Busch passed Ambrose at the start/finish line on Lap 89 of 90 to steal second place from Ambrose, who came home third. A.J. Allmendinger, fresh from a contract extension with Richard Petty Motorsports, ran fourth, followed by pole-sitter Carl Edwards, who collected his sixth consecutive top-10 finish. NASCAR.com
Ambrose won his third straight Nationwide race over the 11-turn, 2.45-mile Watkins Glen layout on Saturday. He was poised to capture his first Sprint Cup victory at Sonoma in June when things went awry. He stalled his No. 47 while leading under a late caution, was unable to keep pace, had to restart seventh when he couldn’t get it refired and finished sixth.
He seemed destined to finally break through at The Glen, but the handling on the last set of tires was off and Kurt Busch slipped past him late.
“It hurts,” said Ambrose, who announced recently that he was leaving JTG-Daugherty Racing after the season. “It doesn’t feel nice.”
“We lost the handle on it on the last stop,” Ambrose lamented. “We tried hard all day. Juan drove a heck of a race. He wasn’t giving me anything. I just wore out everything trying to pass him.” The Associated Press
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NASCAR Sprint Cup: Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen - Race Results
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