Juan Montoya To Exit EGR (Does This Spell Doom for Patrick?)

If you had not heard the news from SiriusXM, Juan Pablo Montoya will not be renewing his contract with Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, when this year comes to a close.

Per Felix Sabates.

I'm not surprised.  He's been marginally successful with two wins, and drives like a man possessed, no matter how many laps down he is.  Juan... this is not Formula 1!  But I think he's figured that out by now.

At the moment, Montoya is 22nd in points on the Sprint Cup driver roster, which by the way, is five spots ahead of Danica Patrick.

I've always compared Montoya's journey in NASCAR with Danica Patrick's present attempt to gel with the ranks of some of the best auto racing drivers in the world.

I've watched Montoya struggle, with a straggle win here and there, much like Patrick has done.

But I've also seen where he is outperforming her.  (Actually even her boyfriend is kicking her ass in the standings right now.)

Many folks have said she wasn't ready for Sprint Cup racing yet.  Hell, she barely broke the top-10 in the Nationwide series and consistently got trounced by any visiting Cup driver when they came to the series to race.

The ONLY thing she has going for her is that huge fan support and expectations of what she could possibly do.  Or maybe, more to the point, what they hope she will do.

But at 411 points out of first, (more than 100 behind Stenhouse Jr. and Montoya), if she didn't have the big green sponsor or fan hopes, I have to wonder just how long she'd last as a regular Joe driver?

Just sayin'!

But back on subject, I wonder, now that Ryan Newman and Montoya are free agents for 2014, who will land the better ride?  It will be weird to see Montoya in a car that's not red.  That's for sure.

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Montoya Had a Chance To Truly Prove Himself (Dover)

My latest, earlier piece, I had talked about how I missed the last part of the Dover race and Jimmie Johnson's restart penalty.  Today I saw the coverage/recap on the event between Montoya and Johnson.  in a word, wow.

So Johnson jumped the gun, or looked like it, while Montoya seemed to miss the boat with his accelerator.

I saw where he said he didn't try to pull anything, while Johnson said that even though he backed off on the pedal, rather than taking back his spot, Montoya pulled in behind him.

Again, Montoya looked like he was showing some gamesmanship in the realm of restart rules, putting the screws to Johnson.

For me, it seemed that Montoya took this opportunity and for some, may have discredited his validity as a Cup driver playing this game. 

We know Montoya races pretty hard, whether he's up front, on the lead lap or multiple laps down.  And now it seems that he's also willing to dance with the "devil in the details" of the rules.

Now we wait and see if NASCAR tweaks their restart rules.

-Bruce

'Daytona 500' Telecast Top-10 Bonehead or Funny Observations

The Daytona 500 was a true test of the NASCAR fan, with the telecast having lasted six hours. 

And maybe the first caution that started on lap 2, that took out Jimmie Johnson and Danica Patrick might have been a warning. 

Though rain forced the postponement of the race until Monday, the huge stoppage this night wasn't for rain this time around, but for another incident involving the track.  Last year we watched the track get repaired with bondo after it came apart... all so the boys could get back to racing.  This year, Juan Pablo Montoya (by no fault of his) provided the two hour and five minute stoppage as something in his car broke and that sent his red No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevy up into the jet dryer trucks that were out blowing debris off the track surface.  This ignited a huge fire and set our next couple of hours on a course of action no one could evade.

But the red flag period, for what it was, actually provided some interesting NASCAR news fodder, after and during the fact.

First up was how the ratings did not suffer from the stoppage... Fox stayed at No. 2 in the ratings race for the night, and that's impressive!  I thought for sure viewers would tune out. 
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TV Ratings for the Daytona 500

Daytona 500 (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 8.4/13 (#2)
8:30 p.m.: 8.4/12 (#2)
9:00 p.m.: 7.8/11 (#2)
9:30 p.m.: 8.4/12 (#2)
10:00 p.m.: 9.9/15 (#1)
10:30 p.m.: 9.2/15 (#1)

(Ratings via TV Media Insights)

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But what did ensue during the stoppage was interesting.  And if you keep score, I think Daryl Waltrip might have won this round of observations.

1. :  In the lap 2 crash, the in-car footage shows Jimmie Johnson letting go of the steering wheel and crossing his arms while getting hit.  Daryl Waltrip seems to credit Danica Patrick for the drivers adopting this practice.  (Never mind the previous years of experience and that this has been Johnson's practice for quite some time.)
2. : Daryl Waltrip credited Danica Patrick's driving skills for getting through the mess...  except that the car was hit, spun, thumped and slid out of control through a few cars, threading the needle, so to speak.  All, without any intervention from the driver who was along for the ride.
3. :  It's a sad statement of sorts as to your name-driver status, Juan Montoya's impact with the jet dryer truck was not captured on tape.
4. :  During the huge fire of the track dryer truck, while it's still burning brightly, Daryl Waltrip suggests on live TV that someone should get in the truck and drive it off the track to save the track surface.  (Oh look, Daytona has a mid-race entertainment show with a flaming truck screaming past the stands.)
5. :  During the red flag, Fox started showing the ads, side-by-side, with the "action" on the track... of parked cars and drivers walking around.  Then when the race gets going, we're back to regular ads.  Somebody needs to make better judgement calls in the booth.
   
6. :  During the red flag, I stupidly Tweeted that no one was doing the Sterling Marlin.  That means getting out of your car to work on it during a red flag.  Rules state you can't do that.  But then we find out that Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch both were sent to the back of the pack for pulling off their window tear-offs aka dust protectors.  Harsh!
7. : NASCAR Reporter Dustin Long tweeted something I RT'd:  "In the remastered Days of Thunder version, Harry will tell Cole to go out and hit the jet dryer instead of the pace car."
8. :  During the red flag, the cameras closely follow Danica Patrick walk off track and taking the top of her fire suit off...  So the race was turning into a GoDaddy ad or breaking NASCAR news was Danica runs for the potty!
9. :  During the red flag (Man, that red flag created some great events) Brad Keselowksi started tweeting from his inside his car and sent a pciture to Twitter... and gained more than 100,000 new followers.   Brad started the race with just over 80k followers.  Today, as I'm writing this, he now has 207K followers!  Brad even got himself on Mashable for it.
10. : For the Dave Blaney fan:  For 2 hours, Dave Blaney led the Daytona 500 field...  during the red flag.

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Car Photos from Daytona International Speedway

Hey all, I had a "man" on the inside...  OK, at the track and he snagged some images for me to use here on NASCAR Bits & Pieces!  My "man" is Leon Hammack, the power behind Working On My Redneck and he embodies the cooperative nature of cool, co-peers in the world of blogging.

With that said, check out the cool pics he sent me from Daytona, from the '72 hours of Daytona!' (click to enlarge) -Bruce

 Carl Edwards no. 99 Ford

 Daytona 500 race winner, Matt Kenseth!

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Denny Hamlin's No 11 Joe Gibbs machine

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 Jimmie Johnson, 

the man who didn't make it past lap 2 and will probably not have crew chief for a few races!

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News and Observations For the Week

Rain Tires?!?!
I had In-Laws in town so rather than make a stink about the Nationwide race, I let it go. Head Smack!! I can't believe I missed an actual race run on treaded tires, in the rain, under NASCAR auspices. Dang dang dang. I've only seen one other race that ran in the rain and that was F-1, who is willing and ready to do that when ever it rains. But it was a mess... There were a lot more wrecks than I'd had thought would happen. So whether the Cup Series gets around to rain tires or not, that will be a totally different matter I guess. My thought: The Nationwide race was a test. And a well received one at that.

Carl Edwards:
We saw yet again that Carl Edwards is not from Leave it to Beaver and we should never for one moment think he's the nicest pie in the tin. It takes a certain level of aggression to get where he is today and be competitive. Don't ever forget that.

Ryan Newman:
Here we go again. A driver of the No 12 car under the Penske roof not only has issues, but is starting to air them. How many drivers does it take making noise to send a signal that maybe the No 12 Dodge isn't the favored child, but the tolerated step-son behind the No 2 Dodge?

In interviews, Newman called out the lack of horsepower and inability to win races because of it.

What's he doing? Does he already have a contract lined up outside of the house of Penske? I hope so because that's not the most endearing behavior, no matter who you are.

Juan Pabloe Montoya:
Remember Chase or Bust? Remember him doing well enough to be looked at until he got his thrid crew chief by possibly an over anxious team owner?

"So where does that leave Montoya? Does he wait and hope that Ganassi rediscovers the mojo it lost after Sterling Marlin's 2002 season? Does he become the next one to lose a sponsor tired of running 35th?

Montoya has a lot of loyalty to Ganassi. They won a lot in open-wheel together so he may very well give it another year.

Or perhaps he is waiting to see if the Breakfast Summit at Daytona -- where Ganassi and partner Felix Sabates broke bread with Cal Wells and Rob Kauffman of Michael Waltrip Racing -- results in a merger of some kind."

What can Montoya do for himself at this point in the game? Stick it out with Ganassi, or look for greener pastures? (Yes, I know it's spelled Pablo.. I'm having some fun!)
Source: http://insiderracingnews.com

There's some food for thought ya'all!

Indy 500 Champs in the Field!

When Sam Hornish, Juan Montoya and Jacques Villeneuve qualified for the Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix, we had 3, count them, 3 Indianapolis 500 winners in the field.

But did you know this wasn't the first time a NASCAR field had such a distinguished collection of guests in the starting field.

October 1976:
The National 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway [now Lowe's Motor Speedway].
Johnny Rutherford, A.J. Foyt & Gordon Johncock.

January 1964:
The Motor Trend 500 at Riverside [road course].
There were four Indy 500 winners in the field:
Troy Ruttman, A.J. Foyt, Parnelli Jones & Rodger Ward.

I just thought you'd be interested in knowing this tidbit!

(Researched at racing-reference.info)

Harvick says Montoya Doesn't Drive Well

The actual title of the artile is: NASCAR's Harvick on Montoya: "He drives like he doesn't know what he's doing", but it was too long for a title for my taste...

Quotes from the article below:

Juan Pablo Montoya has generated animosity among his peers this season for aggressive driving that has led to crashes. (And from what I can tell, a crash almost every race!)

Harvick said. "He can run fast, but he's all over the place and every week it seems like he runs into a different person." At least he's not showing favoritism.

While Montoya is not concerned about being popular among his peers, he does want to be respected.

"Being a rookie, I want people to know if they're faster than me, I'll give them space," he said.



Bruce's Take:
I can't say one way or another on Montoya, to be honest. New drivers tend to push their threshold when they first come on to the Cup scene, and in their first year, they learn where their limits are, and how far they can, or should push other drivers, or their own cars.

With the media ALL OVER Montoya, we see his every action, which may not be any more aggressive than the other new drivers, but then again, he does seem to echo and behave like he doesn't care as he appears to be plowing through and fighting traffic, whether he's on the lead lap, or not.

Harvick - Montoya : Not Done?

It seems that Juan Montoya has taken his perspective of the Road Course Boogie he and Kevin Harvick had on to his radio show's airwaves!

He keeps saying he how well he did in the confrontation.. But I swear, I saw him doing the facemask penalty first!! That's 20 yards for you buddy!!!

Check out the article at courant

Montoya can set a Record

IF Montoya wins this weekend, he would have a perfect road course record in the season, something that does not happen very oftern.

Here's an article on JP and roadcourses: scenedaily

On top of that, Juan Pablo Montoya and his wife, Connie, are scheduled to be guests on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday to promote ABC's "NASCAR in Primetime" special.

The program takes a glimpse into the lives of several drivers and captured Montoya's life away from the track, on the golf course and at home in Miami with his wife and children.

The six-week, six-episode program premieres Wednesday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
scenedaily

Montoya Winning at Sonoma, an Article by Bruce

Juan Pablo Montoya's first NEXTEL cup win has generated more headlines across more newspapers than any other event, barring Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s contract news. It's nuts how many newspapers have covered this and how some of them have devoted whole pages to the articles and pictures!!

I'm not sure I can expound on all the virtues of Montoya, who has won the Indy 500, and an F1 championship, and what he will bring to the ranks of NASCAR if he in fact, continues his endeavors of winning. And with his winning, comes notoriety and recognition for NASCAR

Post updated 6/26:
Juan Pablo Montoya is the 3rd foreign born driver to win a NASCAR Cup race. Mario Andretti (Italy) won the 1967 Daytona 500, and Earl Ross (Canada) won at Martinsville in 1974.

This is Montoya's 2nd win in NASCAR, being his first was on a road course in the Busch series, in Mexico.

As of late, Juan Pablo Montoya has been building up the ire of his fellow Cup competitors as he's been known to race them hard, and take chances, even when he's not on the lead lap. But if anyone knows of Montoya, his Formula One reputation was no different as he was known for aggressive driving, and difficult and risky passes. Of course, in NASCAR, that kind of behavior gets frowned on by some of the drivers and the sanctioning body, as other drivers expect lapped cars to move aside upon their approach, or "slower cars" are also expected to move aside, or the sanctioning body pulls drivers aside to suggest tamer, more politically correct methods of winning, competing and conflict resolution. You know, the stuff that makes the headlines more exciting the next day.

Montoya's win also was quite the chess match. By lap 92 of the 110 lap race, we were all hearing from his pit crew that he did not have the fuel to make it. Thus, Kevin Harvick let himself get passed without much of a challenge, because the intel said Montoya was going to run out, so Kevin didn't fight it, assuming he would inherit the lead later on. Bzzzz.. NOT.

A funny tidbit that's come from this is, being that Montoya has been so aggressive to date, when he came on the radio to announce it was "too early to race these guys", the crew chief and team owner looked at each other, and in a mild state of confusion, assumed they just picked up someone else's radio chatter.

Montoya has raced internationally around the world, he's raced locally no dirt tracks in El Dora in a dirt car, he's competing in Busch events, and now, he is a Cup winner. He's obviously tamed that which we have come to expect, the road courses. Now, it's time to see if he can turn this passion for racing into some oval wins. I think in time, he will get that. I am just not sure it will be this season, but I've been surprised before, and it would be a good surprise indeed.

Now that we have an international racing star, we have to wait to see of the racers from the motorcycle world can make their mark too! But that's for another article.

Here's a google link to Juan Pablo Montoya.
To see all the google hits on his win, here's a google link: Google Link


by Bruce Simmons, the Fan Reporter

Montoya WINS at Sonoma

Juan Pablo Montoya wins a fuel balancing act, with the pit crew reporting that they were a lap short, Kevin Harvick pedals off to let them run out of gas, but they never do and the 42 car leads the crowd across the checkered flag.

We watched Jeff Gordon get up to the lead for a few laps with green flag fuel stops, and he had a chance to win, but the fuel gambit came into play and dictated the final cards dealt to the field.

Montoya is followed by Kevin Harvick in 2nd, Jeff Burton in 3rd, Clint Bowyer 4th, Greg Biffle 5th, Tony Stewart 6th, Jeff Gordon 7th, Kyle Busch 8th, Boris Said 9th and Denny Hamlin rounds out the top 10.

Dale Jr. finishes 13th, pole sitter Robby Gordon 16th, Jimmie Johnson 17th, McMurray ends up 37th after .

Now we wait and see what penalties will be forth coming from NASCAR to the 24 and 48 teams.

See the unofficial results at NASCAR.com And the unofficial point standings at NASCAR.com

Here's my recap of the race at NASCAR-Notes

Infineon Raceway, Juan Pablo Montoya - Bruce's Opnion

This season seems to have had it's impact on Montoya who's made people uneasy with his style fo driving, being aggressive at all times, wether he's on the lead lap, or multiple laps down.

In the Busch race in Mexico, even though he came from the back of the pack, I don't remember seeing how he got there, but we did see how he took the lead away from his own team mate, and you have to wonder if he's going to stir other drivers ire this weekend.

If he's learned anything, I hope he puts it to good use here, and hopefully his team will give him a great car to shine with and that he uses his tires more than his fenders to get to the front, because that's where I expect him to be this weekend, up front fighting for spots with Stewart, J Gordon and others.

Bruce - The Reporting Fan