He led 116 of the 160 laps in last year’s 400-mile marathon in Indianapolis, but only had an 11th place finish to show for it. Juan Pablo Montoya dominated the Brickyard 400 in 2009, but a late-race pit road speeding penalty relegated him to a disappointing finish.
“Thank you, NASCAR, for screwing my day. We had it in the bag and they screwed us because I was not speeding. I swear on my children and my wife,” he said angrily on his radio as he drove down pit road to serve his penalty.
“Thank you, NASCAR, for screwing my day. We had it in the bag and they screwed us because I was not speeding. I swear on my children and my wife,” he said angrily on his radio as he drove down pit road to serve his penalty.
Montoya got caught speeding with only 26 laps left in the '09 Brickyard 400
The Columbian-born Montoya was looking to become the only driver to win the Brickyard 400 and Indy 500. He captured his only 500 win in 2000. He’s also the only driver to have competed in the Indy 500, the Brickyard 400 and the U.S. Grand Prix at the famed and historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
And he would have won the 2009 race if he hadn’t been speeding in two speed zones on pit road at Indy. “It kinda sucks,” Montoya said behind his hauler after the race. “But it is what it is. Everybody on the team did an amazing job. The car was cruising. It was stupid fast.”
While the number on the winning car was 48, the number of the weekend in 2009 at Indy might have been 5. The No. 5 car was blazing fast in practice on Friday. The No. 5 car sat on the pole. The No. 5 car led the first lap, and the pit road speed limit was, you guessed it, two fives—55 mph.
Montoya was the favorite to win in 2009. Will he be a favorite this year? You bet
Montoya was caught at just hundredths over the 5 mph “grace” limit that NASCAR allows drivers on pit road. While Montoya was serving his pit road speeding penalty—a pass through drive down Indy’s long pit road—Mark Martin passed Montoya for the lead.
“Penalty on the 42 for speeding,” Martin’s spotter, Jeremy Brickhouse said on the radio. That was followed just seconds later by crew chief Alan Gustafson telling Martin, “You’re the leader.”
“I feel really bad for him,”' Martin said of Montoya after the race. “If me or my teammates couldn’t win, I absolutely was pulling for Juan. They sure had the car today. But their day will come. It’s tough, but it's happened to every one of us. Good days are still coming for them.”
But will those good days come at perhaps Montoya’s strongest track? Montoya has started second two times in three races at Indy, and surprised few by finishing second to Tony Stewart in 2007—his rookie season in the Cup Series. Had it not been for that speeding penalty last year, Montoya would have had his best shot at winning in a stock car at the 2.5-mile rectangle in Speedway, Ind.
Of course there was no guarantee that Montoya would have held off Mark Martin or Jimmie Johnson on a late restart last year, but there’s no doubt that he would have been much better off than he was mired back in the pack battling with Joey Logano for 11th place.
And even though 2010 hasn’t been like 2009 for Montoya, I wouldn’t bet against him come raceday. And that is only 6 days away.
The countdown is on.
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