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Kyle Busch leads Greg Biffle during the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond Monday.
Fred adams/for the times leader
LONG POND — A few inches in the other direction, and Juan Pablo Montoya wouldn’t have been laughing.
Montoya was stuck in a crowd shortly after the final double-file restart of Monday’s Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500. With a jumble of cars trying to hunt down leader Clint Bowyer with 18 laps to go, Montoya was up against the wall at Pocono Raceway near Sam Hornish Jr. and Kasey Kahne.
He ended up ricocheting off both of them in a span of 10 seconds but somehow managed to keep from spinning out. Not only that, he went on to pass both of them down the stretch and earn a second-place finish – his best of the season.
“Yeah, it was kind of funny,” Montoya said, chuckling as he recalled the hectic incident. “Actually, the first guy that hit me was the 77 (Hornish), and I went into second group behind Clint. They just hit me and I just turned right straight up the hill so the car wouldn’t spin.
“I managed to get back on the gas and I saw 11 (Denny Hamlin) going by. Then I see the 9 car (Kahne) just coming straight at me. I just turned left to make sure when he hit me, I wouldn’t crash into the wall.
“Actually came out pretty good.”
To say the least.
Montoya’s quick reflexes behind the wheel helped him keep his car steady and pointed in the right direction to stay ahead of Kahne and Hornish. A bit later, Montoya used another slick maneuver to wheel around Bowyer to finish second behind Hamlin.
It was Montoya’s second top-10 finish in six career races at Pocono, an unorthodox track that suits the former open-wheel racer much better than the various superspeedways that dot the Sprint Cup circuit. The strong finish bumped him up two spots to eighth in the points standings, putting him in a good position to qualify for next month’s Chase for the Cup.
That’s been the motivation all along for Montoya, who is looking to qualify for the 10-race playoff for the first time in three seasons in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series.
“What we say is, let’s get into the Chase and then let’s have some fun,” Montoya said. “I think we got fast race cars. I think we’re just starting to push the envelope more with everything we do. I think if we make it, we might have a shot at this.”
Now that he’s closer to finishing in the top 12 – he sits 169 points ahead of 13th-place Kyle Busch – Montoya is starting to actually have some fun.
Certainly his demeanor after Monday’s race at Pocono was different than it was after last Sunday’s race at Indianapolis. Montoya looked like a lock to win at the Brickyard before a speeding penalty on his final pit stop.
Montoya was calmed down by crew chief Brian Pattie after the penalty and managed to finish 11th.
On Monday, Pattie helped Montoya gain ground again, electing to change four tires on the final pit stop instead of the two that most drivers did.
And with the next race coming at Watkins Glen – a road course that favors a driver like Montoya – things are looking up for the No. 42 car.
“My goal is making the Chase,” Montoya said. “That’s the bigger picture. If I make the Chase, they won’t remember that this guy won the race, this one didn’t. (Kyle Busch) won three races this year, but he’s probably like 150 points out or something – you know what I mean? They won’t be talking that he won three races. They’ll be talking if he made the Chase.
“I think right now with the Chase, it’s very important to make it. A year ago, when I sat down with Brian, out goal was to make the Chase this year. And we’re doing it so far.”