When Juan Pablo Montoya won at Infineon Raceway last summer, six months into his gig as a stock-car racer after several years on the Formula One circuit, it looked like a seminal moment for NASCAR and Montoya.
But a year later, that win is looking more and more like a fluke.
Montoya hasn't followed it up with much, and in fact he has slacked off a little, it would appear.
His run at Talladega, finishing second to Kyle Busch in late April, was followed by a 32nd at Richmond, a 23rd at Darlington, a 30th at Charlotte, a 12th at Dover, a 38th at Pocono, and another 38th at Michigan. Montoya hasn't finished on the lead lap since Talladega.
And car owner Chip Ganassi has changed Montoya's crew chiefs three times in the past two months, putting Jimmy Elledge in for Donnie Wingo, and then dropping Elledge -- over Montoya's objections -- and bringing in Brian Pattie.
So Montoya, although he's the pre-race headliner in the San Francisco Bay area this weekend, needs to get things back on track.
Montoya said that his Sonoma win was as much a result of strategy as of driving, more so perhaps.
"We came from the back of the field, and we knew from where we started that we really needed to play the strategy of fuel," Montoya said. " Fuel would be the key. We played it, and it came out perfectly.
"It was a tough race, because we were really good in every practice but in qualifying we really struggled. I picked up a bunch of places at the start, and then we took our time, let people wear their tires down. We played it pretty smart.
"When it's your day, it doesn't matter where you start.
Single-lap qualifying is an art in itself and a particularly dangerous art at the twisting Sonoma road course, where even the best road racers can get too caught up in the moment.
"It's a cool track," Montoya said. "I actually did my driving school here in 1992. On TV you don't see all the inclinations -- uphill and downhill. You forget how much up the hill you go up turn one and turn two."
Winning at Sonoma again would go a long way to getting Montoya and the Ganassi crews back on track.
"This season has been so rough on us…. I told the guys it would be cool if we have a chance of winning -- and if I have a chance of winning, I'm going to take it," Montoya said.
Is that a hint that the old "roughhouse" Montoya might be back in the saddle? He started his NASCAR career living up to a rough-and-tumble reputation. But the last half of last season Montoya either cooled off, got bored or just jaded, because he seemed to mellow out.
The Talladega finish put him 12th in the Sprint Cup standings, and there were suddenly questions about the championship, if he were to make the playoff cut.
Now, though, he has fallen back to 22nd. Unless Montoya can pick up 276 points between now and Labor Day, to get back in the top 12, he'll be watching the title chase from the sidelines.
"It's very important we get a finish and score good points," Montoya said. "We've been unlucky with wrecks and things going wrong in the car, and a change of crew chiefs, and it hurt us a lot of points. So we have to get a good finish to get back in contention."
That may be an issue at Sonoma for many of the title contenders and those drivers trying to hang in the top 35.
But Montoya should be able to play against that.
"My knowledge of what to expect from the car, and how far you can go with the car before it goes out of control, is a lot bigger on a road course than an oval," he said. "Even today, and I've been in NASCAR for a year and a half, there are times (on ovals) I feel unsure.
"Last week, for example, the car was horrible (at Michigan). I was telling them ‘I can't run high, I'll wreck.' With 10 laps to go I thought ‘What the heck, I'll give it a try.' I tried it once -- and I hit the wall. So I was right.
"But on a road course I don't have to go that far."
■ Mike Mulhern can be reached at mmulhern@wsjournal.com.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement