I never thought Juan would win in his rookie year purely for the reason that, despite his experience on road courses, there are a hell of a lot of other guys perfectly adept at turning left as well as right (Gordon x 2, Stewart, Said, Harvick, Rudd...the list goes on). I figured that Sonoma and Watkins Glen might be his best chance at winning a race but I wasn't expecting it to happen in 2007.
Ok, so there were a few dicey calls; bumping Jimmie Johnson who returned the favour at the next corner and outbraking himself while trying to pass Jamie McMurray to name two, but that is what Montoya brings to the sport. He has always had the reputation of being aggressive and he very rarely backs down from a wheel-####ing session regardless of who the other driver is (ask a Mr M. Schumacher about that some time).
He is one of those guys who you either love or hate (just like the Busch brothers I guess) because you're either shaking your head in disbelief as he crashes out when trying to overtake or shaking your head in amazement at a spectacular pass he just pulled off. In fact, if Juan's manager wanted to open a whole new merchandising angle, he might want to consider selling heart pills.
Even in victory lane Juan didn't really look all that excited...however I think there was a bloody good reason for that; relief.
A lot of people were talking Montoya up before he had even made his debut, and that talk only got louder after winning in Mexico earlier in the year in the Busch series and finishing in the top five at Atlanta. Remember, this is a guy who hadn't raced tin-tops before and yet loads of people were expecting him to waltz into NASCAR and dominate...I don't care how many wins in F1 you have, that's an enormous amount of pressure.
So Juan, you have my congratulations on a stonking drive from 32nd to first...and never let it be said that I'm afraid of admitting when I'm wrong.
Raceday dawned and we were treated to blue skies in Sonoma…hmm, maybe there’s something to be said about having more races on the West Coast purely for better weather.
Anyway, Robby Gordon took the lead into turn 1 and was intent on sailing off into the distance, but by the end of the day we had our third first-time winner in five races as Dodge got off the mark for 2007 with Juan Montoya storming through the field from outside the top 30 to score Ganassi’s first win since 2002.
Juan Montoya celebrates his first Cup win at Infineon Raceway
No new names added to the list this week as I have reconsidered my previous idea of punishing Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson by not classifying them in the race, so Boris misses out as Jeff keeps his two points for finishing in 7th:
Tez's NASCAR Race Championship Standings - after round 16
1 - Jeff Gordon, 77* points (4 wins) 2 - Jimmie Johnson, 65 points (4 wins) 3 - Jeff Burton, 43 points (1 win) =4 - Matt Kenseth, 39 points (1 win) =4 - Tony Stewart, 39* points 6 - Denny Hamlin, 38.5* points 7 - Kevin Harvick, 30 points (1 win) 8 - Kyle Busch, 29.5* points (1 win) =9 - Carl Edwards, 25 points (1 win) =9 - Mark Martin, 25* points 11 - Martin Truex Jr, 24* points (1 win) 12 - Ryan Newman, 21* points 13 - Casey Mears, 17.5* points (1 win) 14 - Juan Montoya, 15 points (1 win) =15 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 14 points =15 - Greg Biffle, 14 points =17 - Clint Bowyer, 13 points 18 - Kurt Busch, 12 points 19 - Jamie McMurray, 9 points 20 - JJ Yeley, 8 points =21 - David Gilliland, 6 points =21 - Jeff Green, 6 points =21 - Kyle Petty, 6 points =24 - Reed Sorenson, 5 points =24 - Mike Wallace, 5 points =26 - David Ragan, 4 points =26 - Brian Vickers, 4 points 28 - Elliot Sadler, 3 points =29 - Kasey Kahne, 2 points =29 - Ricky Rudd, 2 points =31 - Bobby Labonte, 1 point =31 - Scott Riggs, 1 point =31 - David Stremme, 1 point
The man on the move was, unsurprisingly, Juan who jumps into 14th outright due to the win. Next up, we head back East (so good odds for another rain delay) to New Hampshire where Kyle Busch will look to repeat his win from last year.
We hit the streets this time as the Cup teams tackle the road course at Sonoma near Napa Valley; the wine capital of California.
The biggest news was to hear that Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson would sit out qualifying due to...car infringements shall we say. If Tsfan is anything like myself (highly unlikely I know, but just stay with me here), then she is rather miffed at what to think now after photo says she reminds him of Jeff (while I get Jimmie).
Anyway, Jamie McMurray went out reasonably early and had to wait as the rest tried to pinch pole from him but all ended well. Jamie scored his third career pole and first on a road course.
After starting 2nd for last years race, Jamie McMurray went one better by grabbing pole
Due to some guys being real good on road courses, the number of drivers with points has jumped from 33 last week to 36. Robby Gordon was the big gainer this week, getting his first points of the year to leap up to equal 24th. Despite having to start from the back and scoring no points as a result, the other Gordon keeps his spot at the top:
Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship Standings - after round 16
After Happy Hour, the guys who look in the best shape going into the race tomorrow are Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon and Jeff Burton with Ron Fellows looming as a dark horse.
Tez is a rare creature; an Australian who was living in New Zealand before moving to Canada. He's also a Civil Engineer who is hoping to spend his Monday to Friday sitting in front of a computer surfing the inter...uh, working hard for an Engineering Consultant or Contractor when he finds a job. His heart is torn between his two loves; F1 and NASCAR.
Due to his high interest in those, his blogs will likely focus on them with the occasional foray into sports that don't get much (if any) mention on this website. All blogs and/or comments will more than likely have his usual dollop of sarcasm and general Aussie spin on them.
Amazingly, he also managed to score 2 MiB nominations on consecutive days (August 5 & 6, 2007) after announcing he had been keeping track of them...he's considering hiding under his bed as a result.
