Montoya wasting time in NASCAR!!!!

Yep, racing is racing!

Doesn't matter if it oval or road courses, 4 wheels or 2, the same priniciples applies - racing!

I was just reading an article by Robin Miller in this week's Autosport, how JPM has gained so much respect in NASCAR circles, guys like Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick complimenting JPM virtually every week. Especially the night out at Eldora where Tony Stewart showed him start a Late Model car and JPM drove like a veteran. :up:

I don't why some people complain. Jim Clark, Stirling Moss, Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney - they've raced various types of race cars in there time. Sure its a little different now but if you have talent you can sure as hell be competitive in type of car.

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Originally Posted by wedge

Yep, racing is racing!

Doesn't matter if it oval or road courses, 4 wheels or 2, the same priniciples applies - racing!

I was just reading an article by Robin Miller in this week's Autosport, how JPM has gained so much respect in NASCAR circles, guys like Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick complimenting JPM virtually every week. Especially the night out at Eldora where Tony Stewart showed him start a Late Model car and JPM drove like a veteran. :up:

I don't why some people complain. Jim Clark, Stirling Moss, Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney - they've raced various types of race cars in there time. Sure its a little different now but if you have talent you can sure as hell be competitive in type of car.

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I wondered how JPM did at Eldora, and what people thought of his efforts there. That is about as far from f1 as one can get, and yet JPM took to it eh? Says a lot about Juan Pablo, and all of it is good. If he had a better team and car around him, I think he would have shown more. As it is, he has done well, and I look forward to seeing what he does at Infineon. I didn't know about Raines being punted at Martinsville, but hell, Martinsville and Bristol and punts are just part of the landscape. I wouldn't hold that against any driver unless it was just a blatent attempt to wreck someone. His pass in Mexico was a bit much, but I also think Pruett was slower and was playing a blocking game when it was obvious JPM had the goods on him. JPM doens't seem to tolerate being brake checked......

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Originally Posted by mervyn charter

Despite his recent fighting talk that he would never return to Formula One, Montoya must surely be beginning to realise that he is wasting his career and talent in NASCAR. Montoya`s only likely success their will be on the road courses, but as far as i know they only have two or three road courses out of about 40 races. NASCAR is a different type of racing that is determined not by who is the fastest driver, but who can get other drivers to work with them in the draft, and strategy revolving around the umpteen yellow flags.

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You've never let not knowing what you're talking about slow you down, have you.

Being an Aussie we don't race on ovals here so I grew up with a passion for circuit racing. We had an oval at Calder park which used to run NASCAR and whilst I only went and saw it once, it blew me away. TV does not do NASCAR (oval racing) justice. I was actually afraid when we took a seat by the concrete at tracks edge. The sound, smell and speed was awsome!

Bikes are my passion but I enjoy all forms of motorsport. The true test is to get out and try it for yourself.... Then you will appreciate it!

Lets be real for a second. Montoya is still a rookie half through his first year in NASCAR so its far too early to write him off. That said, he has not met the expecations, but not fell grossly short of them.

Maybe this isn't his thing, but I think he'll give it at least one more year. I can't ever see him going back to F-1. It's been a while since he was competitive there and going to NASCAR in a huff didn't exactly improve his standing with the owners there. If he leaves I see either Chip putting him in an IRL ride or a CC owner bending over backward to get him in that series.

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Originally Posted by RGM Fan

. . . . . or a CC owner bending over backward to get him in that series.

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I think that Montoya has become used to being paid to drive a race car, not paying the team for the honor of driving their car. He won't be in CC.

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JPM has gained so much respect in NASCAR circles, guys like Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick complimenting JPM virtually every week. Especially the night out at Eldora where Tony Stewart showed him start a Late Model car and JPM drove like a veteran.

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Equally stunned by Marcos Ambrose finishing 3rd at Macon Illinois in a Dirt Modified, for a charity event. it was who he beat that was amazing., considering it was his first dirt race!

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Originally Posted by Mark in Oshawa

I wondered how JPM did at Eldora, and what people thought of his efforts there. That is about as far from f1 as one can get, and yet JPM took to it eh? Says a lot about Juan Pablo, and all of it is good. If he had a better team and car around him, I think he would have shown more.

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He finished 15th out of 26 (23 NASCAR racers) and finished inbetween Harvick and Hamlin, respectively.

This is what Tony Stewart had to say:

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I give the an A+, he did a phenomenal job once I showed him how to get it into gear! It just shows what a talent Juan is. I told him next year he could come back and win this. THen he'd have the triple crown - Indy, Monaco... and Eldora!

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Reminds me of few years ago when 'Team America' ie. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Colin Edward won in the Race of Champions. I reckon the NASCAR guys could easily drive a WRC car and have no problems doing the Scandinavian Flick!

JPM can drive...and for a guy like him to be mid pack in THAT field at Eldora that says a lot. It is about as far away from f1 as one can get save for the amount of power.

LeeRoy, you are right. JPM likes being paid to race.....but that don't mean he wouldn't have fun in a Champ Car. He just knows that been there done that is his motto, and the money in NASCAR makes it worth his while to race 37 weekends a year.....

I think he just needs to finish out the year where he's at. He wasn't a headliner when he started in F-1 either.He has put his car in the mix and along side a few wrecks he has showed me some promise as a driver. Hes willing to mix it up and get envolved.If your looking for a breakthrough star hes not it, but a future in the sport I think he could be ok.IMO

Not sure why I'm always agreeing with Mark, but JPM is all about been there done that. If he ever leaves NASCAR, there is only the NHRA and NASA left for him.

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Originally Posted by LTalbot

Not sure why I'm always agreeing with Mark, but JPM is all about been there done that. If he ever leaves NASCAR, there is only the NHRA and NASA left for him.

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Not likely. He left CART (Champ Car is something different) to get to the higher level. Once he got there he found out Formula One has a lot to do with politics and engineering and very little to do with racing. He was absolutely miserable. He is much happier 20 something in points in NASCAR than he was winning racing in F1.

What part of my statement is not likely? NHRA or NASA?

Boy that superior F1 road racing ability sure showed itself in todays Sears Point qualifying...32nd place.

I'm sure he'll finish higher in the race(or wreck).

I was expecting a lot more this weekend.

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Originally Posted by Hoss Ghoul

Boy that superior F1 road racing ability sure showed itself in todays Sears Point qualifying...32nd place.

I'm sure he'll finish higher in the race(or wreck).

I was expecting a lot more this weekend.

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And I was worried that he'd knock Robby off the pole. What a letdown.

What killed him today was two things. One is a team that is strugglling across the board, and two is the fact he maybe underestimated how much more time he had to get out of the COT to make it drive well. He was in the top 15 in practice, and just seemed to make an error or two in qualfying. These COT cars are a handful from what I saw in qualifying, and I think JPM's learning curve is still messed up by the fact the team doesn't know what to do to make the damn car work either.

Mark, look at the lineup, his way younger and less experienced teammate outqualified him. Aside from that, look at how many Dodge teams/drivers outqualified him, with drivers he's ahead of in the points even.

I'm not saying JPM isn't better than this, or those drivers, but he got shown up today plain and simple.

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Originally Posted by Hoss Ghoul

Mark, look at the lineup, his way younger and less experienced teammate outqualified him. Aside from that, look at how many Dodge teams/drivers outqualified him, with drivers he's ahead of in the points even.

I'm not saying JPM isn't better than this, or those drivers, but he got shown up today plain and simple.

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:dozey: Hhmmmm.... YEP !!!

JPM didn't do as well as many of us expected, especially on a road course.

:rolleyes: That said... on a road course the Car Of Tomorrow is a POS (piece of $hit)!!!

It won't corner, CG's too high... causing the car to lift the inside tire, doesn't stop too well, either.

He showed good pace in practice and I guess he made some mistakes during his qualifying run.

But let's see the race first, before jumping to any conclusions.

He's in good company from where he's starting, so I expect a train of cars charging to the front on sunday.

JPM drove like a rookie in qualifying. OOOOps, he is a rookie. JPM needs someone like Boris Said to show him how to drive the stock cars and also to help with the setup. I don't think that JPM has any idea how the cars should be setup. If you notice, Jamie McMurray gave Boris credit for Jamie's qualifying run.

As far as the COT goes, I do believe that all the drivers used it in qualifying :)

I guess that it would have been different if they were in the Car of Yesterday, the COT is simply killing Montoya and his teams chances. From a top 5 in Atlanta, he went to be a regular in low 20's, and even if he will improve in Sunday, he will not win this one.

If every race is going to be on COT next year, and Ganassi don't improve, he should eval if being a midfielder in NASCAR is better than being a midfielder in F1.

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Originally Posted by IndianChiefJoy

I guess that it would have been different if they were in the Car of Yesterday, the COT is simply killing Montoya and his teams chances. From a top 5 in Atlanta, he went to be a regular in low 20's, and even if he will improve in Sunday, he will not win this one.

If every race is going to be on COT next year, and Ganassi don't improve, he should eval if being a midfielder in NASCAR is better than being a midfielder in F1.

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:D I wonder if Renault has contacted JPM's agent ???

;) I hear they have a driver's spot becoming available !!!

Humble Pie much? he did a good job Sunday.

Well, some poeple here thought that Montoya wouldn't win today (including myself). Starting 32nd was way too much to bet for him, but Juan showed these NASCAR boys how to turn right. I read comments about how Montoya might never win a Cup race, how he needed a guy like Boris Said to teach him how to drive like Mc Murray, or how he didn't know more than a guy like GT star Ron Fellows (who's this guy?), but Juan showed today that even if he's not in the top car, as long as NASCAR goes to road courses, they are visiting planet Montoya.

It's more like visiting planet "Road Racing".

I am very happy that JPM won and I hope that he stays and improves in NASCAR. I am not a huge fan of the series, but I have great respect to it. It's very hard, with many champions and race winners, with many cars, which are competitive, with a lot of oivertaking and, what I like, it is really, really tough. Rookies don't come, making miracles there...

Good job from Juan.

He proved the skepticals wrong again.

I was laughing at the announcer when he said that JPM hadn't learned how to save fuel,.........what a moron.

He proved that you can win from deep within the field.

Also kudos to Gordon with his 7th place; my prediction of a charging train towards the front came true.

The skepticals can just be that,.... skeptical. When they are confronted with an exceptional driver, they don't even see it, they can only critisize...pathetic.

ps. I predict a roadcouse sweep from Juan this year, let's bring on the glen!!

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Originally Posted by JPMfan

Good job from Juan.

He proved the skepticals wrong again.

I was laughing at the announcer when he said that JPM hadn't learned how to save fuel,.........what a moron.

He proved that you can win from deep within the field.

Also kudos to Gordon with his 7th place; my prediction of a charging train towards the front came true.

The skepticals can just be that,.... skeptical. When they are confronted with an exceptional driver, they don't even see it, they can only critisize...pathetic.

ps. I predict a roadcouse sweep from Juan this year, let's bring on the glen!!

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I think Stewart and the Gordons will have a say in that. Juan did a great job, but lets not kid ourselves here and say it was some kind of dominating drive, he got lucky. The front runners couldn't make it on fuel, Juan took the gamble that he could and it paid off.

Many of those at the front were counting on other drivers running out of fuel or on a similar strategy so I don't think it detracts from Juan's drive at all otherwise everyone would have done it.

I wouldn't expect him to repeat the win on an oval this year though.

Ladies & Gentlemen, I direct your attention to the month of August...

8/4-BGN race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, 8/5-NNC race at Pocono Raceway...

8/11-12 BGN/NNC weekend at Watkins Glen...

Make plans & get your tickets now... :D

I don't care what anybody says, that was a fantastic win for a great driver. Montoya has won in everything he's driven. I knew it wouldn't be long before he got a win in NASCAR Nextel Cup.

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Originally Posted by Komahawk

It's more like visiting planet "Road Racing".

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road Racing clinic with professor Juan Pablo Montoya if you ask me.. Three road courses this year and three wins, that is pretty impressive.
Rolex 24, Mexico, Sonona.
Bring on Wakings Glen.

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Originally Posted by BenRoethig

I think Stewart and the Gordons will have a say in that. Juan did a great job, but lets not kid ourselves here and say it was some kind of dominating drive, he got lucky. The front runners couldn't make it on fuel, Juan took the gamble that he could and it paid off.

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dude, if you remember Stewart, Hamlin, JJ and Robbie stayed longer to gain track position when Juan, Mcmurray, Edwards and others decided to pit.. Their strategy was good but because there was not yellows for the last 40 laps when they re-emerged Juan, Harvick and co. were already to far ahead because the field was very spread out at that point. Montoya was a fox saving that much fuel while both edwards and Jammie ran out when they pitted on the exact same lap as Montoya.

Montoya reminded me when I had a huge 60's V8. When I was on top of a hill, I let the car roll as much as I could to save some gas.

JPM proved once again great skill with great agression leads to success. He may not sweep the road courses, but he shouldn't be discounted either. What he did was prove once again he ISNT wasting his time, and you have to know it is the only win Ganassi will likely get this year unless JPM wins at the Glen, so it has been a win win for both sides. Juan will learn to be competitive I am sure on the ovals as time goes on. He ran well at Atlanta and he hasn't struggled to qualify yet, so I am of the opinion things will be JUST fine....

Good job Juan. Now win on an oval.