Montoya Earns Outside Pole for Food World 250 at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala. (October 5, 2006) In his first stock car qualifying attempt for Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, Juan Pablo Montoya earned the outside pole position in No. 4 Texaco/Havoline Dodge for the ARCA RE/MAX race at Talladega Superspeedway.

Montoya turned in a lap time of 50.546 seconds around the 2.66-mile tri-oval, while the pole sitter edged him out with a time of 50.537 seconds.

"The Texaco/Havoline Dodge was really good today," said Montoya.  "We knew when we tested here that we had a good car.  The guys have been working really hard back at the shop to prepare it and I think it will competitive tomorrow for the race.

"I'm here to learn and prepare myself for the 2007 season.  During the race I'm going to watch and see what people do, how they pass and how the car reacts.  If someone goes high and tries a new line, I'll probably go with them just to see what the car does.  I'm excited, tomorrow should be fun."

The Food World 250 will air on Speed Channel at 8 p.m. ET on Friday.