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Montoya: Focus Was On Franchitti

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By TONY FABRIZIO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 26, 2008

INDIANAPOLIS - This was supposed to be the breakout year for former Formula One star Juan Pablo Montoya in NASCAR.

Chase or bust was how team owner Chip Ganassi put it.

Nineteen races into the season, though, Montoya is 19th in the standings with one top-five finish.

He isn't optimistic about duplicating or improving on last year's second-place finish in the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.

Montoya says Chip Ganassi Racing is in "a little bit of a hole," partly because operating teammate Dario Franchitti's now-defunct No. 40 team without full sponsorship drained company resources.

"It's hard because the focus of the team was making sure the 40 car made the race every week," Montoya said. "That was the main goal of the company - making sure the car could get back into the top 35."

Ganassi ran the No. 40 team with limited sponsorship until July 1, when he shut it down and laid off 71 employees, including managing director of operations John Fernandez, the former director of Dodge Motorsports.

The decision left Franchitti, the 2007 Indy 500 winner and Indy Racing League champion, without a ride.

At the time, Ganassi said that if he kept going with the No. 40 team he ran "the risk of dragging the other two teams down."

Montoya believes that was already happening - that his team and the No. 41 team of Reed Sorenson were suffering because Ganassi was determined to get Franchitti high enough in the owners points to have an automatic qualifying berth.

"I think a lot of things with the car, we were not doing," Montoya said. "There was a lot of focus on the No. 40, like, 'make sure the best engine goes there.' 'Make sure the best car goes there.'

"You know what I mean? I'm like, 'I'm here, hello!" So that was a little frustrating."

Montoya took Rookie of the Year honors last year, which, given his racing pedigree, wasn't a major accomplishment. He had three top-five finishes, including a victory on the road course at Sonoma, Calif.

His best effort on an oval was his runner-up finish to Tony Stewart at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the storied track where he won the 2000 Indy 500 and competed six times in the U.S. Grand Prix.

Ganassi's Dodges have generally been good at Indianapolis - probably because his NASCAR team benefits from the data gathered by his Indy car team - but NASCAR is running its next-generation car at the speedway for the first time.

Montoya has been woeful to mediocre on intermediate to larger tracks this year.

"You look at our mile-and-a-half cars last year, and we always had a really good car," Montoya said. "If we nailed the setup, we had a top-five car. Where, this year, on the bigger tracks, we struggle.

"If you look at the bigger picture, there's nothing to say we're going to go out here and win."

Eleven drivers have competed in both the Indy 500 and Allstate 400, and Montoya has come the closest to winning both races. He's also the only driver to have competed in all three of the track's major races.

In Indy's U.S. Grand Prix, won five times by Germany's Michael Schumacher, Montoya's best finish was a fourth in 2002.

"If you told me you can win a NASCAR race at Indy or you could win at Daytona, I'll take Daytona," Montoya said. "But is this one of the coolest races you could win, well yes. And for me it would be cool because I've run all three series here."

Sunday's starting lineup will have one other former Indy 500 winner: rookie Sam Hornish Jr., who won the 500 in 2006 with an electrifying last-turn pass of Marco Andretti.

Hornish's best finish in a Sprint Cup points race is a 13th at Charlotte in May. He was 15th in the Daytona 500.

"Indianapolis holds some of the earliest memories I have of going to any races - going to Indy, as well as Michigan," Hornish said. "I think that my mom and dad went to the Indy 500 when my mom was 8 months pregnant with me .I think that's really cool - I have been there in a lot of different ways.

Hornish says Montoya's strong run last year gives him hope.

"I think that anytime you can watch someone who has a similar background come over and have that kind of success, it keeps you very optimistic about what your opportunities might be."

Reporter Tony Fabrizio can be reached at (813) 259-7994 or afabrizio@tampatrib.com.

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