Juan Pablo Montoya had the honor of becoming the first Latin-American
racer to score a NASCAR victory: the Columbian who moved from Formula
One racing to run stock cars with his former CART (now Champ Car) team
owner Chip Ganassi, landed his first NASCAR Busch Series win today in
Mexico City.
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Race winner Juan Pablo Montoya celebrates. Photo by Getty Images.
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"That was a vintage drive for him. That's what makes this guy what he is
today," said Ganassi.
For Montoya, he was happy to win his first NASCAR race in Mexico. "The
reason I came to NASCAR is for the racing, and we showed today it is a
great place for racing," said Montoya.
"It's huge for the Latin community and for everybody who supported
me," he added. "Every time I'm out there I want to shine. To be able
to convert this into victory shows where the Ganassi team is going.
Hopefully we can share a lot more successes."
Prior to the green-white-checkered finish, the open-wheel ace took the
lead on lap 72 at the 2.518-mile Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
circuit in dramatic fashion.
After a restart, as he followed the race leader into the first turn, he
clipped the right rear of his teammate's Dodge, spinning Scott Pruett out of
the chance for the win. Neither racer wanted to give ground as they both
aimed for the race win, even if they were teammates.
"I'm very sorry for what happened with Scott. I braked a little bit later
than him, went for the inside, I was there and I thought he saw me because
he was coming quite wide, and when he came across I thought 'Oh my god'. I
had just no room to go," explained Montoya. "I tried to back off, but it was
too late."
Pruett, who earned the pole yesterday, was dominating the race, even though
Montoya's comeback after an earlier fuel problem with an additional pit
stop showed he had the Dodge to beat. The rookie's first career win was
not on the note he would have wanted when the two virtually had
locked up a one-two finish for Chip Ganassi Racing.
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Scott Pruett leads Juan Pablo Montoya. Photo by Getty Images.
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"I thought we were good for a top 10, a fifth-place finish or something.
I think no one would have batted an eye had we done that, no one would
have questioned a thing," Ganassi commented. "It still would have been a
great drive just to do that."
The incident caused Pruett to fall back out of contention. Pruett
made up ground and finished fifth after the final caution forced the
green-white-checkered rule. The reason for the eighth and final caution
was brought about when Michel Jourdain, Jr.'s Ford was hit, forcing the
Mexican driver into a spin.
Pruett was not a happy person after the race, stating: "He just tapped
my corner and spun me. It wasn't even close to having the line or not
having the line. Of all the people to take out -- your teammate. That was
just low-down, nasty, dirty driving."
With left-front damage, Montoya was able to keep Denny Hamlin at bay for
the final two laps in the Latino's seventh Busch series start. His first
four came when he joined CGR last year. And now he has the first three
races under his belt fot 2007. Yesterday, he notched his highest career
grid position with the third fastest time. Today, he made history in
front of the largely Hispanic crowd and for the first time had a top-ten
finish.
Both Montoya and Pruett are road racing specialists, the Mexico circuit
is one of the three road courses that the Busch drivers will compete at
this year; Montreal and Watkins Glen being the other two.
Hamlin, who started fifth, ended second today in his Joe Gibbs Racing
Chevrolet by a mere 0.75-seconds. Hamlin made repeated attempts, including
some bumping, to take the lead and score the back-to-back Mexico City race
but in the end, the former CART champion held his ground.
"I wouldn't call it dirty driving, but it was a bit aggressive," Hamlin
said of the incident between the two CGR drivers from his front row
seat. "Juan had the fastest car and he would have taken the lead sooner
or later. He was overzealous."
As far as his chase of Montoya, Hamlin said, "It didn't seem like his car
was as line-sensitive as mine. I had to hit my marks perfect every single
lap just to stay in the ballpark and he could pretty much hustle it and do
anything he wanted. It was just his day."
Road racer Boris Said garnered third in a Evernham Motorsports' Dodge.
Finishing fourth and taking the points lead in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford
was Carl Edwards who admitted that his Ford could not keep up with the top
three but he still "had a blast out here. There was some excitement. That
was wild with Juan and Scott and Boris and all of the guys. I just had fun
racing with them. On one of those restarts I was going down the corner with
Denny Hamlin, Juan Montoya, Boris Said and Scott Pruett, and we're all
out-braking each other, and I'm thinking 'this is pretty cool, man. I'm
living the life."
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Jorge Goeters. Photo by Autostock.
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Sixth went to Toyota driver Jason Leffler for Braun Racing. Adding more
cheers around the circuit from the fans in Mexico City with a seventh
place finish was local racer Jorge Goeters in his Brewco Motorsports
Ford after an earlier incident.
"The team did very, very good work repairing my car and everything,"
Goeters said. "I was very pleased to have my opportunity to race with
Brewco Motorsports. I'm very excited. "We came back very strong. We had
to take care about some positions and be careful. At the end, I pushed
hard to do better and to get better places. It was good for me."
Australian Marcos Ambrose placed eighth in the Wood Brothers/JTG Racing
Ford followed by yet another Mexico City native, Adrian Fernandez racing
in a one-off race for Hendrick Motorsports in a Chevrolet. Taking tenth
was Wood Brothers/JTG Racing's Jon Wood.
"You mean after all of that we still finished ninth," exclaimed
Fernandez. "That's unbelievable. If we hadn't had half the problems we
encountered we might have won this thing. But this was fun. I am always
honored to race in front of my home fans and the experience this weekend
was fantastic."
