Originally Posted on October 17, 2006 on Foxsports.com
Juan Pablo Montoya ran his second stock car race Sunday at the new Iowa Speedway. Montoya had a few struggles, but overall showed he is ready for the next step toward his Cup career.
Montoya qualifed third - behind polesitter Steven Wallace but ahead of the rest of the field, including ARCA series winner Frank Kimmel.
Montoya attempted to jump past Wallace at the start, but had to wait a lap to accomplish the pass. He then led until lap 19 when he moved up the track in front of Wallace. Wallace ran into the back of Montoya spinning him nose first into the wall. Wallace was able to pit and continue on - Montoya had to sit a few laps before repairs were complete.
Montoya drove quick laps, showing that his reputation for speed translated from Indy Cars to Formula One to stock cars. When he was back on the track, Montoya ran flat out - even with a damaged car. If he hadn't had the damage, it is entirely possible Montoya may have lapped more cars than Wallace did.
In one of his more impressive laps, Montoya took it three-wide at the start-finish line, threewide again coming out of two, and threewide the third time coming out of four. Six cars passed in one lap - some of them lapped cars, a couple of them cars on the lead lap - and one of them was the eventual 2nd place finisher, Kraig Kinser. All with a car with a damaged/missing right front.
Equally impressive (and somewhat surprising) was that Montoya was a crowd favorite - almost more than Steven Wallace, Rusty's son (it is a Rusty designed track), and clearly more than Frank Kimmel ( a car owned by an Iowan) or the Iowa drivers in the field (and there were several).
I think Montoya will be a fun rookie to watch next year - his reputation as a savvy driver, quick on the gas, and ablility to make a quick start will serve him well in the Nextel Cup Series. Given the fan reaction on Sunday, the fans are anxious to see him do well in the stock car.
No comments:
Post a Comment