Q. When you come to Miami, how much different is it than when you go to Bristol or Martinsville as far as fan awareness, them knowing who you are?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Well, it’s actually a nightmare. It is. It’s so many people. Everybody wants tickets. You know, everybody wants this. Everybody needs this. Everybody is your best friend. It’s what it is. It’s okay.
But in the same token, it’s good to have that support and people paying attention. We did that event last night with a couple of Colombian foundations to create awareness. Came out really good. It’s good. It’s great to see.
Q. Any experiences you’ve had down here this week that gives an example of that?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: This week, I flew planes on Tuesday, like what I do mainly every week. I took the guys on the boat, the 42 crew out on the boat on Wednesday, and yesterday did the event. I didn’t really do anything different than we do normally here.
Q. You talked about racing smarter. You’ve been running at the finish at every race this year. How important a factor has that been in your success? Do you see any change in style among drivers? Incidents are down in general this year.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Not really. You know, it’s kind of crazy ‘cause when you run up front, you can run hard. But at the same time you can run a lot smarter when you got good racecars. When you’re running 20th, 25th, you’re always thinking about going a lap down, you can’t give an inch away because the leaders are coming, things like that. When you run the top five, you can ride. You can pace yourself, be smarter. When you do that, you actually run faster. It’s kind of crazy.
Q. When Carl was in here earlier, he said because there’s nothing to lose, last race, what the heck, people will probably be a little more aggressive. I don’t know if you think that is the case or not.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: No.
Q. If you can talk about your event last night, successful, a big deal.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Yeah, I don’t see this race like, What the heck. I think a lot of guys, people that were not in the Chase, could have been the 10 races, What the heck. People outside the points already that can’t win a championship, What the heck as well. It doesn’t matter, you know. It hasn’t really changed the results. You haven’t seen people doing dumb things. I don’t think you’ll see that here.
I think if you come here thinking, What the heck, I can run really hard here, maybe win the race, means you wouldn’t have given enough the other 35 races I think. Wouldn’t you?
The event last night came out really good. Over 700 people show up to it. It was pretty amazing. It was great to see.
Q. Off the track how much has your comfort level contributed to your enjoyment of being in this part of your career?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It’s nice to be able to run well. It makes life a lot easier. It sucks when you run 25th. Last year most of the year was like finishing 20th, 22nd. When Brian broke the 20, finished 16th, I think it was Chicago or something, we were so excited. Last week we finished eighth, and I was freaking screaming on the radio because we sucked all day.
In a way, it’s great. It’s kind of weird and frustrating that you’re so close to get a win, so close for championships and things, but at the same time, you know, the closer you get you notice how much more work you still got to do to make it happen.
Q. Juan, with your success, your children weren’t around when you were winning all the races early in your career, aren’t they old enough now to appreciate what daddy can do?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Yeah, it’s kind of cool. My son is actually a huge Kyle Busch fan. I’m not lying. If you go look by my motorhome, I just got an M&M hood that I’m going to put in his room. I have to put a Target one as well. We’re putting one and one.
But it’s incredible. He understands what I do. The girl, not so much. But the boy knows. He’ll tell you who drives a car, what car. Like with Kyle, it’s actually pretty funny. When Kyle drives the Nationwide car, he knows what car it is. When he drives a truck, he knows what car it is. It’s kind of freaky.
| 
|