Sonoma Juan-derful for CGRFS
Results from Infineon Raceway
1. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge
32. David Stremme, No. 40 Coors Banquet Dodge
40. Reed Sorenson, No. 41 Target Dodge
Montoya Wins First Cup Race, Returns CGRFS and Texaco/Havoline to Victory Lane
SONOMA, Calif. (June 24, 2007)-Juan Pablo Montoya drove the No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge Avenger to a 4.097-second victory over Kevin Harvick in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup road course race at Infineon Raceway. It was Montoya’s first NEXTEL Cup victory in just his 17th start, and a first for the pairing of Texaco/Havoline and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (CGRFS).
Montoya began the 110-lap race from the 32nd position, the deepest starting spot for a winner at Infineon Raceway. By the completion of the first lap he had driven the Texaco/Havoline Dodge up to the 27th spot. He broke into the top 20 on lap 10 and never let up. The second caution of the day waved on lap 14 with the No. 42 Dodge Avenger in 18th. He told Crew Chief Donnie Wingo the tires were chattering and he was sliding around quite a bit. Wingo assured the 31 year old driver they would make adjustments on the team’s first stop, but track position was crucial.
Green-flag pit stops began on lap 33, shortly after Montoya moved in to the top 15. Wingo called Montoya down pit road on lap 35 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. When pit stops cycled through, and the caution flag waved on lap 43 the black and red Texaco/Havoline car was running 14th.
At the midpoint of the race, Montoya and the team were running in the top 10. He told Wingo the car was still sliding around. When the caution flag waved on lap 67, Wingo made the call to bring Montoya down pit road and stretch the team’s fuel mileage to the end. The Texaco/Havoline crew jumped pit wall to make another air pressure adjustment, change four tires and pack the car full of fuel. Four cars in front of Montoya remained on the track, and he restarted the race from the 12th spot on lap 69.
Montoya passed the No. 25 car on lap 71 for 11th and had his sights set on the top 10. The cars that remained on the track during the caution period on lap 67 began to peel off the track and down pit road for fuel. On lap 77 Montoya and the team found themselves in the third spot, with Jamie McMurray, Harvick and fuel mileage between them and victory lane.
Wingo came over the radio several times to remind Montoya to “save fuel.” Montoya got around Harvick with 18 laps to go as the front runners were in fuel conservation mode, but still turning quick lap times. Montoya was quickly running down McMurray, and made the pass for the lead with just seven laps remaining in the event. The road-racing expert was able to save enough fuel to take the checkered flag for his first NEXTEL Cup victory.
Montoya and the Texaco/Havoline team moved up to two spots in the standings to 21st (technically tied in points with Casey Mears in 20th) with their victory today. The team sits 259 points out of the 12th position – the final transfer spot to the Chase for the Nextel Cup. Montoya also increased his lead in the Raybestos Rookie standings to 15 points over David Ragan.
Notables
• First NASCAR NEXTEL Cup win for Montoya in just his 17th start
• First victory for Texaco/Havoline with CGRFS
• First victory for the new Dodge Avenger
• Wingo’s first win since Sonoma in 1993 with Geoffrey Bodine
• First victory for a Hispanic driver in NASCAR’s top series
• Montoya is the first rookie to ever win at Infineon Raceway, he leads the Raybestos Rookie standings by 15 points over David Ragan.
• Montoya joined racing legends Dan Gurney and Mario Andretti as the only drivers to win races in the NEXTEL Cup Series, IndyCar] and Formula One.
CGRFS Quoteboard
Juan Pablo Montoya “I thought it was a good day for the Texaco/Havoline team and the entire Chip Ganassi Racing organization. I would say right now it’s the biggest thing I’ve done in my racing career. It’s unbelievable, actually. In open wheel I was meant to be winning in and in stock cars I wasn’t. To get our first win in our first year is huge. The reason I came to Chip is because he wants to win as bad as I do and I think Donnie (Wingo) and the whole team wants to do the same thing. We started 32nd and you don’t know how fast you are, you don’t know how hard people are trying. We were just getting the laps in, trying to move forward and just be patient. And being patient really paid off today. We took our time. The pit stop changes and calls were amazing. Donnie (Wingo) made some changes with the pressures on the car, especially the second time, that made a big difference and it was just good. It was hard when I was running behind traffic because the hairpin can get really slow in Turn 7 and 11 and to get on the gas was really hard. It would spin the wheels really easy. It was one of those deals. I knew I was running third with 20 to go and I didn’t want to finish third. I did want to save a lot of fuel. I picked up the pace a little bit, passed Kevin (Harvick), and then at the same time I started working on Jamie (McMurray). I was trying to roll the car as much as I could. It’s really hard here to save a lot of fuel. In Turn 1 I was saving a lot of fuel through there and a couple other places just being very patient on the throttle and it really paid off.”
Donnie Wingo, Crew Chief “This is a great day for the team. We kind of got ourselves in a hole a little bit in qualifying. We knew we were going to have to do something today to try to make up track position because we knew he could get at least half of them, and if we could get the other half we’d be in good shape. When the caution actually fell about one lap earlier than what we wanted it to, it kind of put us in a situation where we had to gamble. We didn’t have a choice. Juan just did a great job all day. He kept all the fenders on it. He passed what he needed to pass. The fuel mileage is what saved us. The motor shop, those guys have been working really hard on it and finally it paid off for them. Sonoma was the last time I went to victory lane with Geoff Bodine. It’s been since 1993, so it’s been a while. Just like I said, I’m just glad to be a part of it, this big group of people, this organization. Everybody has worked so hard and we’ve been close over the past few years but we haven’t been able to close the deal. And to finally be able to do that today, it’s big for Texaco/Havoline. It’s just big for our whole organization and all our partners.”
Chip Ganassi, Team Owner “Like Donnie said, we’ve been close a lot of times and we didn’t quite close the deal. And it was close again today. We were saving fuel there at the end like everybody was. It means a lot for our entire organization. We’ve had our share of pundits and reasons for that sort of thing over the last four or five years since we visited victory lane and I had a hard time finding the place. My hat’s off to everybody in the organization because we all knew we had it in us. Everybody in the organization, from the top to the bottom, the people all running things, we’ve all won races and we knew how to win. We’ve got a guy that pushes the pedal. That sure helps. It feels pretty good to be here (victory lane), to tell you the truth.”