Juan Pablo Montoya won his first career pole in the Sprint Cup Series in Saturday’s qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway. Montoya grabbed the top starting position for the Aaron’s 499 after turning in a lap at 188.171 m.p.h. in his No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
The 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner, 1999 CART Series champion and former Formula One driver notched his first Sprint Cup pole in his 82nd start.
The 34-year-old Colombian driver competed in Formula One from 2001-06 before switching to NASCAR Nationwide and Cup Series competition in the latter part of the ‘06 season. In 2007, he scored his first Cup victory at Sonoma, CA and won rookie of the year honors in the series. Montoya finished a 2008 season- best second at Talladega one year ago. MiamiHerald.com
Montoya turned the second of his two qualifying laps in his No. 42 Chevrolet in 50.890 seconds (188.171 mph), edging Ford driver Greg Biffle (188.141 mph) by .008 seconds.
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Martin Truex Jr. (187.971 mph), Montoya’s teammate at Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, will start third, next to fourth-place qualifier Sam Hornish Jr. (187.953 mph). Clint Bowyer (187.919 mph) claimed the fifth starting spot, edging Regan Smith (187.897 mph), the fastest of the drivers required to qualify on speed.
Mark Martin, who claimed his first victory in a Hendrick Motorsports car last Saturday at Phoenix, will start seventh, followed by rookie Scott Speed, Brad Keselowski and David Ragan. NASCAR.com
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“He does a great job and has calmed down since the first few races where he might have tried too hard,” said Truex, who started from the pole at Daytona. “We were together at Daytona quite a bit during the race, and he made all the decisions that I would have made when he was in front.
“That’s going to be important (Sunday). We’ll work together as much as we can. Hopefully we’ll be in position at the end of the race to help each other. I think both our cars are capable of winning. You need to be in the right position and hope you make right decisions toward the end of the race.”
Montoya, who will make his 82nd Cup start Sunday, has shown that ability since starting second and finishing third in an ARCA event at Talladega in October 2006. USA Today
“What it really helps is to build momentum for the team,” Montoya said. “We are working to get wins. We’re working to get poles, to get noticed, get in to the chase and be a contender. We’re doing that.”
“This is one of those race tracks where you really don’t even want to qualify because you never know what’s going to happen,” Montoya said.
“I really get a kick out of it, having everybody so close together,” Montoya said. “It is not about who has the fastest car. It is about putting yourself in the right position, getting the right runs, doing the right stuff.” AFP
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