When Colombian NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya decided to leave Formula One racing in 2007 in favor of NASCAR, he knew that it would be an uphill battle. Montoya was leaving a big pond to jump into an ocean. That NASCAR ocean has been ruled of late by drivers such as Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards, and Tony Stewart. Montoya enjoyed his best NASCAR Sprint Cup finish in 2009 as he finished in 8th place. Since then his best finish came in 2010 as he took 17th place in the Sprint Cup standings. This season Montoya is currently in 20th place and thus his contract with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing will not be renewed for 2014.
Montoya was looking towards joining a new NASCAR team for 2014, but instead he has opted to join Penske Racing in the Indy Car Series.
Winning a race is not just about the man behind the wheel; it is also about his crew. On June 23 at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 in Sonoma, California, Montoya was poised to take home the checkered flag before he ran out gas on the last lap and he had to settle for a 34th place finish. Montoya’s crew chief Chris Heroy miscalculated his fuel and the end result was a lost opportunity by the no. 42 team to gain traction to in order to get a wild card spot in the Chase for The Sprint Cup.
What has allowed drivers such as Johnson, Stewart, and Edwards to compete for and ultimately win the Sprint Cup Championship are the teams that have been put around them. Both Johnson and Stewart have won multiple Sprint Cup Series Championships and they have done it off of the strengths of their pit crews. Stewart and Johnson have both been two of the best drivers as far as consistently getting off of pit row in under 15 seconds.
Montoya has shown flashes of contending in NASCAR, but he has been unable to put it altogether for a solid run since 2009. NASCAR racing is the equivalent of the American League East in Major League Baseball as there is very room for error. A driver can worry about contending with Stewart, Edwards, and Johnson, but then drivers such as Kurt Busch, Brad Keslowski, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are extremely formidable as well just to name a few.
Montoya now gets a fresh start in the Indy Car Series as he will contend with the likes of Tony Kaanan, Will Power, Marco Andretti and Helio Castroneves. Where each NASCAR race features 43 drivers, an Indy Car Series consist of about 25 drivers. Indy Car doesn’t race every week and there isn’t the same pressure on the drivers. Somethings tells me that a new start is just what Montoya needs and that the best is yet to come.
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