Home > Juan Pablo Montoya: The fans love him but drivers hate him
by Greg Varkonyi on 05 March 2007
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Ex-Formula 1 star Juan Pablo Montoya was definitely the best driver in this weekend’s Telcel-Motorola 200. His car seemed to be the fastest, he was his dominant aggressive self once again, and in the end he won the race. But leave it to Montoya to make his first NASCAR win a controversial one. ESPN’s Terry Blount said it best, when he stated this was classic Montoya: putting together unmatched skill and unwise aggressiveness. There definitely was plenty of controversy in this victory. First, Montoya was most probably let off the hook when he blended into the field questionably under a yellow caution, after pitting with 27 laps remaining - an incident which eventual third place driver Boris Said was complaining about vigorously after the race. But the controversies did not end there. According to eventual second place finisher Danny Hamlin, Montoya jumped the restart three times in the final six laps. Hamlin pursued his case further than Blount, as he took the issue to Busch Series officials after the race. The complaints above are to be expected, as there can be serious tension between rival drivers in the Busch Series. Yet Montoya managed to alienate almost everyone on this day when with eight laps to go, and his teammate Scott Pruett leading with him running second, he rammed his teammate off course to take the lead. It was an overly aggressive, unwise move. Even Pruett admitted that he was aware of his teammate closing in on him, and that Montoya, with the fresh tyres, was far quicker than him. Scott is known as a good teammate. I’m pretty sure he would have happily settled for second place, and let Juan Pablo go by, once he realised he was holding him up. Due to the spin, Pruett finished only fifth. He called Montoya’s costly manoeuvre a rookie mistake, that a racer as experienced as Montoya, or a true champion should not make. After the race Pruett spouted profanities and then simply stated that was just bad driving from Montoya’s part, despite him winning the race. In all fairness, the Colombian was apologetic following the race. He admitted the move was an overzealous one. Pruett, refused to accept the apology and he later reiterated: "We could have been 1-2. We were both the class of the field. If he's faster, I'm not going to fight him. He had fresher tyres. I wouldn't have fought him for it. This was just bad driving."
Comments (6)
by Andre on March 06, 2007
Get him out of Nascar
by jose on March 06, 2007
reminds me of Senna the Brazilian F1 driver that was a reckless win at all cost driver. It finally cost him his life
by jOSEPH on March 07, 2007
had it been the other way some of you would have said that is th price to pay for being a rookie, so suck it up bitch!
by Greg Varkonyi on March 07, 2007
I don't think Senna was anywhere near as reckless as Montoya. He's more along the lines of a young Jean Alesi, who would either get a surprisingly good result or would crash, there was never any in between. Montoya resembles him in that regard. As for Joseph's statement: I don't think you get why the drivers were questioning Montoya. It isn't the agressive move in itself, it's the fact that he did it to a teammate, who most probably would have let him go 1 or 2 turns later. Had it been an incident involving say Hamlin and Montoya, Hamlin would be fuming, yet that would be as far as the thing would go. You just do not do anything like thatto a teammate!
by Ihatejuanpablo on July 08, 2007
"The drivers hate him".... SO DO THE FANS...... He needs to go back to what he does best, Indy or anything but NASCAR he's not a TEAM player or even a gracious driver he's a bully and he doesn't care who he takes out to get to the front.... he's a disgrace to the sport.
by larry titus jr on August 13, 2007
I am sick and tiredd of racers coming to nascar from the IRL and F-1 And pushing there weight. Montoya for example..... comes from a sport where the CARS do all the work and then try stock car racing and wreck people every $#@%^#%$^ week. And what is worse is the fact that they never seem to think that it is there fault!!!!!!! Yet people like Tony Stewert ( one of the best drivers of all times on ANY TYPE OF TRACK) shy of dale senior, seem to get into trouble for taking a SHIT!!!!!!!!!!! ITS TIME TO TAKE STOCK CAR RACING BACK TO YTHE BEST OF THE BEST! IRL andf-1 are the fastest, I admit, however stock cars dont use vaccum to hold them to the track and traction control. KEEP THE REAL RACE CAR DRIVERS WITH THE REAL RACE CAR DRIVERS! No respect for the sport, and over all bad attitudes, Robbie Gordan , and Juan Montoya GO RACE SOMEWHERE ELSE, YOU ARE NOT WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!GET LOST FORIEGNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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