LOUDON, N.H. — Juan Pablo Montoya has a bottle of French wine at home that was given to him as a gift from a friend in Malaysia, who told the driver to save it for a veryspecial occasion.
One problem: Montoya doesn't drink alcohol.
Should he become the first foreignborn driver to win a NASCAR championship, Montoya is willing to make an exception.
"It's a beautiful French wine," he said. "I don't like wine. But I would drink that wine if we win."
Don't pull the bottle opener out just yet - Montoya still has a long way to go in his quest for a Sprint Cup Series title. But the competition considers the Colombian the dark horse of the 12-driver Chase for the championship field.
The 10-race title Chase begins today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, where Montoya will make the 100th start of his Cup career. It falls on his 34th birthday, and Montoya will start from the pole.He also paced all three practice sessions, putting his No. 42 Chevrolet on top of the leaderboard all weekend.
After crew chief Brian Pattie convinced him to spend the summer racing toward their goal of making their first Chase, Montoya, who has one Cup victory since leaving Formula One, iswith Ganassi, then moving on to a successful F1 career.
And the emotional Montoya seemed happy in the globe-trotting series, despite his numerous run-ins with the governing body, other drivers and his own teams. In a 2005 interview with David Letterman, he tried in plain terms to explain the difference between his sleek F1 car and NASCAR's full-bodied stock car.
"This isn't meant to be disrespecting," he said, smiling. "Have you ever driven a pickup truck and a Ferrari?"
He found out firsthand just a year later when, worn out by the politics of F1, he made the jump to NASCAR.
Montoya learned quickly that his new job was rather hard. He was involved in a fiery accident in his 2006 debut at Homestead, and struggledthe next season to adapt to the many different track layouts in NASCAR. The next year brought three crew chief changes in less than two months, and Montoya's frustration began to show.
"I think if you are patient about it, you are never going to achieve," he said. "You don't have to be a [jerk] about it, but if you want something done, you have to push people."
Now, Montoya wants a chance to prove it, and has pushed his race team to take the next step in their progression. It might come across as demanding, but Montoya said he's only exhibiting determination.
"We got to a point where we are competitive," he said. "But what's next? What are we doing next to make ourselves better ?"ready to run free and fast for victories.
When he left F1 midway through the 2006 season to reunite with former boss Chip Ganassi, Montoya didn't expect the transition to take so long. He had brief success in his 2007 rookie season, when he won on the road course at Sonoma, but the past three years have otherwise been a slow process toward making his No. 42 team competitive.
"We look at setups we run now compared to where we were a year ago and say, 'How could we be so dumb?'" he said with a laugh.
Montoya admits to fits of impatience as he waited for Ganassi to get his NASCAR team up to speed. He'd never really experienced a rebuilding effort, winning the Indianapolis 500 and CART championship during his brief stint
Sports, Pages 27 on 09/20/2009