Impatient Montoya Wins In Mexico
Juan Montoya Spins Out His Teammate Scott Pruett
Juan Pablo Montoya has often been referred to as a world-class racecar driver.
He is unarguably one of the greatest open-wheel drivers of our generation, and very few would consider Juan Pablo Montoya a dirty driver, well, that was until Sunday afternoon.
After starting third for the Telcel/Motorola 200 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez in Mexico City, Montoya immediately passed Carlos Contreras to move into the second position right behind his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate and pole sitter Scott Pruett. Just a couple of laps later, Montoya bypassed Pruett for the top spot.
The two Chip Ganassi powered drivers dominated the race, and were clearly the class of the field, so a 1-2 finish was inevitable. Well, that should have been the case. Unfortunately, impatience prevailed.
Montoya was in cruise control after a series of green flag pit stops, however, he learned that the overflow tube had broke and he did not have enough gas to make it to the finish. He was summoned to his pit stall for an unscheduled pit stop under the next caution.
The Colombian driver restarted the race in 21st position with 27 laps remaining in the 80-lap event. Montoya meticulously worked his way back to the front of the pack. In fact, he passed 20 cars in 17 laps. Nonetheless, the final pass was the one that caused the most waves.
After Montoya moved around Boris Said for the second position, he was in hot pursuit of Pruett. Still batting .000 in NASCAR racing, Montoya was a tad on the over-zealous side when he approached the rear bumper of Pruett.
With 8 laps remaining, Montoya made an attempt to pass Pruett in turn 1, however, there was not enough room available for him to complete the pass, therefore, he clipped the rear bumper of his teammate. The contact sent Pruett spinning around, and back to 17th position, while Montoya claimed the lead.
Montoya’s valiant comeback was incredible, and his triumph made history, as he becomes the first Latin driver to win a NASCAR Busch Series race by holding off a determined Denny Hamlin.
Nevertheless, the backlash from his bump-spin & run is present, and his relationship with his Rolex 24 comrade may be temporarily tarnished.
Pruett was not coy in expressing his disdain for the NASCAR Busch Series’ newest winner, "Of all the people to take you out -- your teammate. That was just lowdown, nasty, dirty driving.'
The irony in the situation is that just moments before this incident occurred, team owner Chip Ganassi told reporters , “There's only one team order, and that's 'don't crash into each other.”
Montoya was remorseful in his post-race interview. "I'm very sorry about what happened with Scott,' he said. "I thought he saw me and when he came across I had no room to go.'
Just like all other drivers, Montoya made an error in judgment, so I refuse to believe that he is a dirty driver. Montoya is a rookie in NASCAR and he will continue to make mistakes, however, it is vital that he learns from them.
