Power Rankings: Montoya shifts gears, with eye-opening results

Updated Oct. 5

Throughout the season, Juan Pablo Montoya and the 42 team made it no secret that they were points racing in order make the Chase.

Their strategy: Keep their noses clean and be content with top 10s and top 20s. Play it safe. No need to gamble on pit strategy. Pull the reins back on Montoya's aggressiveness. Let Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, et al, battle for wins and get the glory.

And it worked to perfection.

Last season, Montoya turned in nine DNFs, eight the results of wrecks. He has no DNFs this season. While he was rarely a factor for wins during the regular season, he averaged 14th, a drastic improvement from his 24th-place average of a year ago.

But while that proved a great strategy to make the Chase, the brain trust at Earnhardt-Ganassi knew it probably wouldn't be a great strategy to win the Chase.

So crew chief Brian Pattie declared Montoya would be let loose over the final 10 races. No longer in points racing mode, Montoya would be free to be his old aggressive self. Many wondered whether that would result in a rash of torn-up No. 42 cars.

So far that fear has proved unfounded. In fact, Montoya has looked every bit a legitimate championship threat.

It started immediately in the Chase opener at New Hampshire where he opened many eyes by capturing the pole and leading 105 laps en route to third.

One race, no big deal.

But then in the second Chase race at Dover, he qualified second. While he failed to lead a lap, he was fourth. His two top fives in the first two Chases races matched his top five total from regular season.

Surely he'd come back down to earth at Kansas.

But nope -- Montoya was once again a factor Sunday. He ran top 10 all afternoon, making a late charge to fourth, becoming the only driver to finish in the top five in all three Chase races.

"To finish fourth with the way the car was handling I'm pretty happy," said Montoya, who has four top fives in the past five races. "We fought hard all day to get the car handling right. It was a long day but we got it together toward the end and were running fast lap times. Three top five finishes in the first three Chase races is huge. And it's what we need to do every weekend."

And after how he has performed through three Chase races, it's no longer preposterous to think he can do it.

Power Rankings after Kansas: