Montoya flashing the talent he showed in open-wheel racing
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports
INDIANAPOLIS -- Jeff Gordon strode into the room, sat down alongside Juan Pablo Montoya and said, "Not bad for a rookie."
Indeed.
Montoya, driving in only his 21st NASCAR Nextel Cup race and racing a stock car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time, passed four-time Cup champion Gordon late in Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard to grab second place.
While it was apparent nobody was going to beat two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart on this day, the performance by Montoya on the same track where he won the 2000 Indianapolis 500 as an IndyCar rookie, was by far his best NASCAR showing on an oval track.
"It's exciting," the Colombian driver said. "It's the first oval race where I could get to people and pass them. Normally, I'd get to 12th or something and you'd start trying to get runs on people and you can't. Today, it was awesome, I could really go at it."
Gordon, a four-time Brickyard winner, said nothing Montoya does surprises him.
"It's obvious how talented he is," Gordon said. "I think everything he's ever driven, he's been fast and had success. I guess I had expectations of him being able to showcase his talent when he came here, and he has.
"I think when their team steps up and gives him the car, he steps up and shows what he can do. I think they still have a little work to do to be consistent with those good cars."
This was a great weekend for Montoya and his Chip Ganassi Racing team.
Teammate Reed Sorenson, a budding star at 21 years old, won his first Cup pole on Saturday, with Montoya right behind him in his best NASCAR qualifying effort so far. Then, Sunday, Montoya stayed in the top five throughout the 160-lap race on the historic 2½-mile oval, while Sorenson wound up fifth.
Asked to grade himself now that he is past the halfway point of his first full season in NASCAR, Montoya, who won in June on the road course at Sonoma, said, "I think, from where I thought we were going to be, I'd say we're way ahead. Where do I want to be, I think we're still behind.
"For myself and the whole team, I think this is a big boost, like Sonoma and the win (by Sorenson) last week in the Busch series. It really shows what the team can do. But we've just got to be able to do what Hendrick does. Every weekend they're always up there. The only way to first of all get to the Chase and secondly to win a championship, you've got to be good week in and week out."
Montoya left Formula One late last year to rejoin Ganassi, for whom he won the 1999 CART championship and the Indy race at the Brickyard.
