TALLADEGA, Ala.
Juan Pablo Montoya was back on his A game in Sunday's Aaron's 499, and new crew chief Jimmy Elledge gets some of the credit.
Adding Elledge to the mix certainly seems to have perked up Montoya, who broke out of the doldrums here and came within a few lengths of winning his first race since last summer.
Montoya said that the season has been going better overall, anyway.
"The average finish is a lot better this year," Montoya said. "Last year we would normally finish 22nd to 24th everywhere, and then two or three times a second place here, a fifth place there -- and the rest were 20ths.
"Now we are running 15th average every week. But we never really had a result like this."
Montoya has a little different take on racing at Talladega Speedway than many of his competitors.
"I've loved restrictor-plate racing since the first time I came to Talladega (two years ago)," he said. "I love it -- the bumping, it's tough, because you can finish 20th in a heartbeat, or 30th.
"It's pretty exciting because it takes a lot of strategy, and you have to learn to pick the right lane. And when you pick the lane, you make sure you get enough to make sure the line moves.
"The problem is there are people that, when you bump them hard (bump-draft), they brake.
"I really helped Kyle; I managed to get on his bumper, and when you can get on somebody's bumper you can actually push them all the way around the corner the whole lap.
The end-game?
Montoya said, "I don't think you plan anything. You depend so much on what people behind you do. If they are going to drop you (hang you out to dry), it's just pretty tough.
"You've just got to learn."
Montoya and Paul Menard tangled late in one of the day's incidents.
"Ryan Newman got pushed, and David Stremme pushed me, and I actually got in sideways," Montoya said. "So I went in below the (out-of-bounds) line not to wreck him (Menard), and he just didn't give me any room.
"I had nowhere to go. I felt so sorry. As soon as he spun, I called to see if he was OK."
For Denny Hamlin the day was a blast. Hamlin may be the tour's most aggressive driver at Daytona and Talladega. And teammate Kyle Busch has taken exception a few times to Hamlin's aggressive driving.
Hamlin, who finished third, never really had a shot at Busch and Montoya, when Michael Waltrip's engine blew on the last lap, with Jimmie Johnson right on his tail, triggering a huge race-ending crash.
"But it was really fun," Hamlin said. "I had a car that could do whatever I wanted to do.
"Whenever I wanted to pull up to somebody's bumper, I would. And I would push him as long as my water gauge would let me -- or as long as they could hang on to it.
"That's all you can ask for, to have a car as good as ours. The best car don't always win.
"If Kyle weren't a teammate," Hamlin said, "I probably would have pushed Juan out to the outside, and followed him, if the guy (the leader) stayed on the inside, simply because we worked really well to stay together, Juan and me.
"Then I was going to go for the win myself if the door opened that last 200 yards."
■ Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.
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