Q. With this experience with the chase, you hear drivers talk about kind of the stepped up pressure or the intensity of it. Is there a way to compare what this chase experience has been like with what you’ve gone through in other forms of racing? Is it really that much more intense? Or is it just like, you know, some other forms of racing?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I don’t know. It’s intense, but it’s ‑‑ I don’t know if I’m just used to it, and I know what it takes. You know, the good thing with being in ten races, you’re either in it or you’re out of it. There’s no middle ground.
We were in it at the beginning, and I feel now that we’re out of it. I think the weekend would have changed that if we had a good result, but we didn’t.
Right now we’re 230‑something points away from Jimmie with two races to go. So the chances of being in it are very slim to none. You know, it’s what it is. I know we wanted to have better results and we’ll work very hard to finish a little better. But I think as a team we’ve done a great thing this year.
Q. Also want to ask you about your involvement with RC airplanes. My understanding is it is something that you got involved with this year as well as the last year. Can you just kind of talk about that? Is that as much as anything a good way to kind of get away from the bubble of the racing world at times?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Well, I do, I’ll tell you. I was playing a lot of golf this year. I played that much golf than I normally did. And RC airplanes I used to do years ago. I picked it up again. I picked up wind surfing, something I used to do years ago.
It’s just fun. It’s relaxing. I love working on the planes. I spend a lot of time in my warehouse building and fixing and figuring out how you’re going to run this and how you’re going to do that. It works good. It’s a good balance. A good compromise, and it works really well.
Q. How good of a pilot are you with those?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: A decent one. I’m not going to say I could go out and compete. But I fly them, I land them, I do things with them, fly them upside down. I’m just getting into Jets. And I do a decent job with the jet. I like them.
Q. Getting back to the stock car qualifying. I was referring just to on qualifying, not racing. I think everybody thinks the racing is exciting and I agree with them. We’re specifically referring to just the qualifying. Just the single car qualifying as other posed to the knockout style?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I tell you, if you go to a knockout style, somebody would always complain that they didn’t have a good enough lap or a clean enough lap or the track wasn’t good. It’s very easy if you have maybe in a road course to have a knockout qualifying. But on an oval, you would have to allow the 43 cars or 48 cars or 50 cars that show up every week to go out on the track at the same time.
And everybody would like to be the last car running on the racetrack, because it’s when the track is going to be the best. You wouldn’t be able to fit all of them.
Q. I’m not going to ask you about Danica Patrick questions and whether she can do it. There is a certain amount that draws females and draws males at the same time when you have a pretty girl that is very talented and driven. Do you think that Danica is going to bring or are you aware or do you think the public is aware of what’s going to happen if she succeeds?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I think you’re going to have a lot of traditional NASCAR fans hoping she doesn’t. That the good old boys show them how it’s done. But at the same time, you’re going to have a huge amount of people hoping she does well.
From my personal opinion as another driver, I hope she does well if she decides to come. And if I can help her in any way, I would. It’s simple, come and ask a question, I’ll give you an answer. But it’s easier said than done, like I always said, you know.
So I would think it would be cool if she comes. And if she does well, I think she would love the sport. I think the sport is also the racing, but it’s not easy.
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