Juan Pablo Montoya Gets Big Boost with Third-Place Finish at Las Vegas

Bob Pockrass, SceneDaily.com

LAS VEGAS – Juan Pablo Montoya couldn’t hold off Tony Stewart for second in the waning laps of the Kobalt Tools 400, but for a driver with career finishes of 22nd, 19th, 31st and 37th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finishing third Sunday was just fine.

Montoya had only one top-five finish in his previous 16 races, so the third was certainly a boost for his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team, which finished a lap down in 19th at Phoenix last week.

A couple of two-tire pit stops – one near the beginning of the race, another near the end – helped Montoya with track position but he also had good car.

“We could make the car turn through the middle, we just couldn’t touch the throttle [early enough], and the other way around,” Montoya said. “It was just touch and go.

“But it’s good. We really needed a good result after last week, and it was nice to get it here.”

The third-place finish was Montoya’s first top-five finish at a 1.5-mile track since Atlanta in March 2010.

“Last year when they went from the wing to the spoiler I think it really affected me and we really struggled, and we did a lot of work over the winter with the new nose to make sure that didn’t happen,” Montoya said. “Here we are. It’s good.”

Montoya is fourth in the Cup standings three weeks into the season.

“We ran like a bucket of crap last week trying some stuff and probably should have been a little more conservative last week,” said crew chief Brian Pattie. “Instead of trying stuff, we should have stuck with a game plan.

“We normally run top-10 there and we’d be leading the points probably right now. We live and learn. But definitely a third-place finish will make us feel good going into a weekend off. We learned a lot, and it shows we’re progressing on our mile-and-a-half program. It is a good sign.”

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