FANTASY NASCAR: FOCUS ON JUAN PABLO MONTOYA

After two disappointing seasons, Juan Pablo Montoya looks to turn things around. Photo credit: nascarmedia.com

It hasn’t been an easy transition from open-wheel racing to stock car racing, but Juan Pablo Montoya has shown some glimpses of brilliance at times. However, after making the Chase in 2009, he has taken a step backwards in each of the past two seasons.

Last year was particularly difficult, as he tumbled to a 21^st place ranking with just two Top 5s and eight Top 10s in 36 starts. In addition, Montoya managed to lead just 125 laps in 2011, and that was a three-year low after a career-high 411 laps led in 2010. You can tell it was an off year, as he didn’t even do particularly well at the road courses, which are his specialty. Montoya managed a disappointing 22^nd place finish at the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon, and he followed that up with a seventh place run at Watkins Glen in August.

Speaking of Watkins Glen, two of Montoya’s crew members, Jerome David Frey and Trevor Lynse, were arrested due to drug charges, and that caused a little upheaval within the team. Replacing two crew members mid-season is no easy task.

“Last year was a difficult year with lots of change,” Montoya said. “This season, we’re all going to work together and we have an awesome team ready to go.”

One of those changes is bringing in former Hendrick Motorsports engineer Chris Heroy to serve as crew chief this season. Heroy was hand-picked by the driver himself. Heroy led the resurgence of Mark Martin during the 2009 season, so JPM hopes the crew chief can work his magic again. He has assembled an almost entirely new crew for Montoya, with many having ties to Hendrick.

Montoya has done little on ovals, with both of his Sprint Cup Series victories coming on road courses (Infineon, 2007 and Watkins Glen, 2010). However, he has a few favorites on the circuit, and you might be surprised to hear they aren’t the road runs.

“Dover, Atlanta and Michigan, now that they have done a re-paving there. We were terrible at Michigan before,” Montoya said.

It’s no surprise to hear Atlanta. Most drivers usually cite tracks where they had their first measure of success, and Montoya turned in his first Top 5 back on March 18, 2007 at Atlanta. In nine career starts at Atlanta, he has been 16th or better six times, while turning in three Top 5s and four Top 10s. Remember that when Sept. 2 rolls around.

As far as Dover is concerned, it was rather surprising to hear JPM gushing about the Monster Mile. In a word, he has been terrible there over the years. In 10 career starts at DIS, Montoya has just one Top 5 and two Top 10s while averaging finish spot of 22.9.

Many felt Montoya would eventually break through at Indianapolis, a place he won with Chip Ganassi Racing in his IRL days at the 2000 Indianapolis 500 in his only attempt. It looked good for JPM, too, in his first attempt in a stock car. He was runner-up in his rookie season of 2007, falling just short of Tony Stewart. After that near-miss, though, it has been nothing but heartbreak and disappointment. That was his only Top 10 in five career NASCAR runs there, and he has finished no better than 11^th (2009) since that solid showing.

Montoya will kick off the season at Daytona Feb. 26. Look for JPM to start the year off right. At the Daytona 500 Feb. 20, he led five laps and posted a sixth-place finish, and at the Coke Zero 400 July 2, he managed a ninth-place finish. Two of his four career Top 10s in 10 starts at Daytona came last season. We’ve seen unlikely winners here before, so might Montoya etch his name into the record books? We’ll soon find out.

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