Juan Pablo Montoya poses with his son Sebastian after winning the Coors Light Pole Award in qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series’ Finger Lakes 355 at Watkins Glen International. Photo by Jeff Zelevansky, Getty Images
This week, the pole was no surprise to Juan Pablo Montoya.
The unexpected winner of the top starting spot last week at Pocono, Montoya made it two in a row Saturday at Watkins Glen International, the 2.45-mile road course that gave the Colombian driver the second of his two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victories.
With seven wins in prestigious Formula One racing, Montoya expects to run well at road courses, and on Saturday he did, winning the pole for Sunday’s Finger Lakes 355 at the Glen in a track-record 69.438 seconds (127.020 mph).
The Coors Light pole award was Montoya’s second of the season, his first at Watkins Glen — in fact, his first on a road course at the Cup level — and the ninth of his career.
Montoya edged Kyle Busch (126.928 mph) by .05 seconds. Busch also broke the track record of 126.421 mph he set last year, as did third-place qualifier Jimmie Johnson (126.925 mph), fourth-place Brad Keselowski (126.626 mph), and fifth-place Marcos Ambrose (126.524 mph).
Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr. and Jamie McMurray will start the 22nd Cup race of the season from positions six through 10, respectively.
“I think the lap was a pretty good lap,” Montoya said. “You always make mistakes here and there. It’s never perfect. You always think, ‘Oh, I went too far here, I went too little there, I lost it there’ — but I think everybody does.
“It’s about how well you can put it all together, and I think we did a pretty good job of that. I think (Sunday) in the race we’re going to have a decent car.”
Montoya saw the way Jeff Gordon catapulted from nowhere into a provisional wild-card position for the Chase for the Sprint Cup with last Sunday’s victory at Pocono and said the same might be possible for him, even though Montoya is 21st in the series standings with no victories.
“We’ve talked about it,” Montoya said. “Even if we don’t win (Sunday), we believe that, with the things we have found lately, maybe if we don’t have the fastest car there, but if we play the strategy right — it might come down to fuel or something — we might come into Richmond with a chance of making the Chase.
“It would be shocking, but it would be awesome.”
The top 110 drivers in the standings qualify for the Chase, along with the two drivers from positions 11-20 with the most victories. Montoya is 27 points behind 20th-place Jeff Burton and would have to improve at least one position to be eligible for a wild-card spot.
Busch posted the fastest time in Saturday morning’s practice but said he got loose in a couple of corners during his qualifying run. With a front-row starting position, Busch won’t be satisfied with anything less than a win.
Currently 15th in points with one victory, he needs at least one more win to feel comfortable about his Chase chances.
“For the next five (races), it’s win or bust, basically,” Busch said. “Finishing second or third or fourth isn’t going to get us anywhere.”
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Watkins Glen International Raceway – Watkins Glen, NY
Finger Lakes 355 Qualifying – Aug. 11, 2012
1 42 Juan Pablo Montoya 69.438 127.020
2 18 Kyle Busch 69.488 126.928
3 48 Jimmie Johnson 69.490 126.925
4 2 Brad Keselowski 69.654 126.626
5 9 Marcos Ambrose 69.710 126.524
The World’s Strongest Acaiis also regarded as a Weight Loss Product. It could additionally raise the danger of heart disease and cardiac arrest. This is how penis expands. We will discover more in this guide by inviting the most common questions from you. 6 39 Ryan Newman 69.827 126.312
7 14 Tony Stewart 69.917 126.150
8 15 Clint Bowyer 69.966 126.061
9 56 Martin Truex Jr. 69.973 126.049
10 1 Jamie McMurray 70.023 125.959
11 98 Michael McDowell 70.160 125.713
12 24 Jeff Gordon 70.199 125.643
13 78 Regan Smith 70.216 125.612
14 20 Joey Logano 70.269 125.518
15 16 Greg Biffle 70.270 125.516
16 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 70.279 125.500
17 22 Sam Hornish Jr. 70.324 125.419
18 99 Carl Edwards 70.330 125.409
19 29 Kevin Harvick 70.341 125.389
20 5 Kasey Kahne 70.369 125.339
21 95 Scott Speed 70.372 125.334
22 27 Paul Menard 70.448 125.199
23 11 Denny Hamlin 70.515 125.080
24 17 Matt Kenseth 70.607 124.917
25 32 Boris Said 70.678 124.791
26 47 Bobby Labonte 70.721 124.715
27 51 Kurt Busch 70.869 124.455
28 31 Jeff Burton 71.010 124.208
29 43 Aric Almirola 71.022 124.187
30 13 Casey Mears 71.054 124.131
31 36 Dave Blaney 71.067 124.108
32 34 David Ragan 71.205 123.868
33 55 Brian Vickers 71.296 123.710
34 38 David Gilliland 71.373 123.576
35 83 Landon Cassill 71.434 123.471
36 87 Joe Nemechek 71.454 123.436
37 10 JJ Yeley 71.550 123.270
38 26 Josh Wise 71.982 122.531
39 33 Stephen Leicht 72.097 122.335
40 19 Chris Cook 74.193 118.879
41 49 Jason Leffler 74.279 118.742
42 93 Travis Kvapil Owner Points
43 30 Patrick Long 75.031 117.551
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.