Success at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is nothing new
to Montoya, who won the Indy 500 in 2000. He had a strong run going in last
year's Brickyard, only to have his shot at a victory undone by a late pit road
speeding penalty.
Montoya has steadfastly denied any lingering bitterness
from last year's near miss, or any notion that the Brickyard owes him one.
Instead, the pole-sitter for Sunday's race is treating this visit as an
entirely new opportunity.
"It's given me a lot, so I don't complain,"
Montoya said.
So far this weekend, he's had little to gripe about.
His No. 42 Chevrolet was the fastest of 13 cars at an
April tire test here, and Montoya paced both of Friday's practice sessions.
Then the Colombian star turned a lap at 182.278 mph (293.33 kph) in qualifying
to take the top starting spot at the Brickyard.
Four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, who
won his third Brickyard last season in part because of Montoya's gaffe,
qualified second. Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin qualified third and
was followed by Jamie McMurray, Montoya's teammate, Ryan Newman and Clint
Bowyer, as Chevrolets took the top six qualifying spots.
Greg Biffle was the highest qualifying Ford at sixth,
Brad Keselowski was the best Dodge at 11th and Martin Truex Jr. led the Toyota
effort at 12th.
Former Formula One champion Jacques Villeneuve, like
Montoya also an Indianapolis 500 winner, qualified for his first Cup race since
2007 and will start last in the 43-car field. Four drivers failed to make the
race: David Gilliland, Casey Mears - nephew of four-time Indy 500 winner Rick
Mears - David Stremme and J.J. Yeley.
Attention will likely be on Montoya, who has already had
a busy week. His wife, Connie, on Monday gave birth to the couple's third
child, a daughter named Manuela, and Thursday was a trip to the emergency room
for middle child Paulina.
"Her brother practiced his golf swing on her
head," Montoya said with raised eyebrows.
So getting on track provided some relief from the
madness, even though this weekend comes with raised expectations.
He led 116 laps last year in a bid to become the only
driver to win both the IndyCar and NASCAR races at the Brickyard, only to be
flagged for speeding on the final pit stop to drop to an 11th-place finish.
Everyone expected a strong effort in his return, based solely on the assumption
the No. 42 team wants to grab the victory it was denied last year.
But Johnson bristled on Saturday at the suggestion that
Montoya had the field covered last year.
"I think we were the best car last year," the
winner argued. "I think Juan and the team did a great job getting up front
and were in clean air. Yes, Juan was fast in clean air, but when he got mired
in traffic, he couldn't go anywhere. Not taking a shot at Juan, but I'm really
proud of what we did last year." Montoya, of course, disagreed.
"If you think about it, I remember (Martin) nearly
passed him with two laps to go," Montoya said. "So (Johnson)
definitely didn't have the superior car. I think I had the superior car; I
think (Martin) was the second fastest car.
(Johnson) probably had the third or fourth fastest car.
"He just had a good restart and that's it." The
back-and-forth set the stage for what should be a decent show on Sunday at one
of the most storied tracks in all of automobile racing. Montoya will be trying
to give car owner Chip Ganassi a rare "three-peat" in that he already
this season won the Daytona 500 with McMurray and the Indianapolis 500 with
Dario Franchitti.
Ganassi wants the sweep, but was cautiously optimistic.
"To be honest with you, if we weren't up near the
front (in qualifying), I would have been pretty disappointed because we were up
there during the test and in the practice session," Ganassi said. "So
we'll see what happens. You know, it's a long day and we have a lot of things
we have to do yet. This is just one step in a long flight of steep stairs for
the weekend."
