RICHMOND, Va. - It’s been a season of bad breaks for Juan Pablo Montoya, so it was only fitting when things again didn’t go his way.
Montoya was sailing toward his first victory since 2010, on an oval no less, when an ill-timed caution ruined everything. He had led 67 laps Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway and needed to complete just four more when Brian Vickers hit the wall.
Montoya screamed into his radio, pounded his fist against the steering wheel, then quickly collected himself to consider the big picture: He’d come into Richmond ranked 27th in the Sprint Cup standings with absolutely nothing to show for the improvement Chip Ganassi Racing has made this season.
“I know we want to win, but we need the points,” Montoya radioed crew chief Chris Heroy as they debated strategy.
It was decided that Montoya would pit from the lead, take four new tires and try to win in a frantic two-lap overtime sprint to the finish. But he restarted sixth in the outside lane that was clogged by cars on old tires. Kevin Harvick restarted seventh, behind Montoya but in the inside lane, and he darted his way around the traffic to the win.
Montoya settled for fourth, his best finish since he was fifth at Martinsville in 2011.
“We got that caution at the end and it was a no-brainer to take tires,” Montoya said. “I think what hurt us is we restarted on the outside and when you restart on the outside and people got really bad tires, everything packs up. And when you’re on the outside, where are you going to jump? When you are on the inside, you can just jump to the guys.”
Disappointed? Sure. But Montoya was able to see the silver lining, even in those frantic final seconds when Harvick snatched his victory.
“When Harvick went by I tried to get to the bottom and then [Joey Logano] was there and I said ‘We’ve just got to get a finish,’ ” he said. “Remember, before this we had six really bad weeks.”
In his seventh season with Ganassi since leaving Formula One for NASCAR, Montoya has no more time left on his contract unless Ganassi picks up the option the team owner holds. But keeping his seat in the No. 42 Chevrolet could depend on performance in an organization desperately trying to turn a corner.
With so many expectations to take NASCAR by storm, Montoya instead has just two road course victories and a lone appearance, in 2009, in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. But the team struggled mightily, Ganassi has made numerous personnel changes - including a revolving door of crew chiefs for Montoya - and no amount of talent could get Montoya out of the rut.
Montoya went to Richmond with six finishes of 20th or worse in eight races, while teammate Jamie McMurray had three top-10s and was 10th in the standings.
So to have the chance to run out front Saturday night, and to show his No. 42 team is far better than the results indicate, was a small victory for Montoya and his crew.
NASCAR standings
Jimmie Johnson ......................... 343
Carl Edwards ............................... 300
Kasey Kahne ............................... 297
Dale Earnhardt Jr. ....................... 297
Clint Bowyer ................................ 290
Brad Keselowski ......................... 284
Kyle Busch .................................. 278
Greg Biffle ................................... 272
Kevin Harvick .............................. 271
Paul Menard.............................. 271
Aric Almirola ............................. 258
Jamie McMurray....................... 245
Sports, Pages 17 on 04/29/2013