Juan Pablo Montoya

[BengalszoneBilly]

IMHO, I think he is. He's already proven himself in (the now defunct) CART and Formula 1, and as soon as he masters ovals, he will be as good a driver as there is in Nascar. All it's going to take is him getting used to the car setups, and working with his crew chief and spotters. It's just a matter of time!

From Yahoo Sports:

NASCAR rookie Montoya flashing the talent he showed in open-wheel racing

By MIKE HARRIS, AP Auto Racing Writer

July 29, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Jeff Gordon strode into the room, sat down alongside Juan Pablo Montoya and said, ``Not bad for a rookie.''

Indeed.

Montoya, driving in only his 21st NASCAR Nextel Cup race and racing a stock car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time, passed four-time Cup champion Gordon late in Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard to grab second place.

While it was apparent nobody was going to beat two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart on this day, the performance by Montoya on the same track where he won the 2000 Indianapolis 500 as an IndyCar rookie, was by far his best NASCAR showing on an oval track.

``It's exciting,'' the Colombian driver said. ``It's the first oval race where I could get to people and pass them. Normally, I'd get to 12th or something and you'd start trying to get runs on people and you can't. Today, it was awesome, I could really go at it.''

Gordon, a four-time Brickyard winner, said nothing Montoya does surprises him.

``It's obvious how talented he is,'' Gordon said. ``I think everything he's ever driven, he's been fast and had success. I guess I had expectations of him being able to showcase his talent when he came here, and he has.

``I think when their team steps up and gives him the car, he steps up and shows what he can do. I think they still have a little work to do to be consistent with those good cars.''

This was a great weekend for Montoya and his Chip Ganassi Racing team.

Teammate Reed Sorenson, a budding star at 21 years old, won his first Cup pole on Saturday, with Montoya right behind him in his best NASCAR qualifying effort so far. Then, Sunday, Montoya stayed in the top five throughout the 160-lap race on the historic 2 1/2 -mile oval, while Sorenson wound up fifth.

Asked to grade himself now that he is past the halfway point of his first full season in NASCAR, Montoya, who won in June on the road course at Sonoma, said, ``I think, from where I thought we were going to be, I'd say we're way ahead. Where do I want to be, I think we're still behind.

``For myself and the whole team, I think this is a big boost, like Sonoma and the win (by Sorenson) last week in the Busch series. It really shows what the team can do. But we've just got to be able to do what Hendrick does. Every weekend they're always up there. The only way to first of all get to the Chase and secondly to win a championship, you've got to be good week in and week out.''

Montoya left Formula One late last year to rejoin Ganassi, for whom he won the 1999 CART championship and the Indy race at the Brickyard.

While some people thought he would quickly tire of the NASCAR grind and be less than impressed with the plodding 3,400-pound stock cars after driving quick, agile IndyCars and Formula One cars for so many years, the 31-year-old Montoya said he is content.

``Something very nice about the position I'm in right now, I've managed to achieve a lot of things in life already,'' Montoya explained. ``I don't have the pressure of performing to keep a job. A lot of young guys have to do that.

``You learn to be a lot smarter, take the chances when you have to and not take the chances when you don't. There's no pressure and that's really nice. Working for Chip is really nice because he's a guy who believes 100 percent in me and that gives you a lot of confidence.''

Montoya, whose best previous oval finish in Cup was fifth early in the season at Atlanta Motor Speedway, moved from 20th to 18th in the standings and is now 200 points behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the battle for the 12th and final spot in the Chase for the championship that will begin in just eight races.

``I'll tell you the truth, if we can get this kind of finish in the new few races, then we have a chance,'' Montoya said. ``If you go to the next race and have an average weekend, that doesn't help. But that doesn't mean we're going to give up. I think we're going to go more for wins than trying to get to the Chase.

``I think we're getting there. (This) shows where the team is going, it shows the potential is there. But it's a little bit like my season. We're going to go to places where we still (stink) and we're going to go to places where we do really well.''

A few more races like Sunday, though, and Montoya won't have to worry about those bad days.

[kenyon1977]

If he doesn't piss too many people off then maybe. Right now I don't think there's a single perosn that would help him in the draft.

NASCAR needs him to be good. They have no one with personality right now. Everyone is so afraid of being fined and penalized points they all say and do the same things like freakin robots.

This is also the first year in the paszt ten were the ratings are going down because of the lack of story lines and the fact every track they build new is the same boring ass track