August 17, 2007
By Brian Watkins

Brian Watkins

Sunday’s race at Watkins Glenn was a nice change of pace. Normally I don’t care for road course races and will often skip them all together. After the previous week's abysmal coverage of the Pocono race by ESPN, I was very tempted to skip this race as well. But the DVR caught it this time and there was nothing else on, so I figured what the heck and hit play. What began as a typical race ended up keeping me on the edge of my seat more often than any other race in a long time.

As I’ve stated several times, I’m a Dale Jarrett fan. So when it comes to cheering drivers this season, I don’t often get to see, let alone encourage my driver. Even if he makes the race (thank God for rained out qualifying sessions or he’d have been in the broadcast booth again) he’s got his standard spot worked out, always running between 27th and 34th, so he doesn’t get much TV time. So while I’m always hopeful for some pit stop miracle that sends DJ into the lead at the last second, I’m more often than not cheering on one of the other drivers, generally Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin, Junior and believe it or not, Jeff Gordon.

Let me make it clear that I still not a Jeff Gordon fan. I don’t think you’ll ever find a 24 sticker on my car or a can of Jeff Gordon energy drink in my fridge. However, it’s getting harder and harder not to enjoy seeing him running up front. I know I’ll get some hate mail for it, but I’ve come around quite a bit this season as far as Gordon goes.

Speaking of going around, the biggest stories of the race involved turning around. The first was Smoke’s little spin in Turn 1 that sent him back from 1st to 19th. I felt bad for him and hoped he’d be able to get back into the top 10. A few cautions later, there’s Tony, up front again, fighting Hamlin, Gordon and Edwards for the lead. Then just as quickly as you were amazed that Stewart came back so strongly for a well earned 2nd place finish, Gordon does a donut in Turn 1, identical to Stewart's, giving him the win.

How exciting is that? Regardless of how hard ESPN tries to kill the coverage of the race, some things are more powerful than poor broadcasting, and the performance of the lead cars at Watkins Glenn were indeed worth putting up with stupid commentary and cutaway car shots.

I mentioned above that I’ve come to appreciate Jeff Gordon as a driver. The problem that left me, was not having a driver in the “hate” category. Hate may be a strong word, but you know what I mean. For every driver a fan loves, there is a driver (or drivers) that they cannot stand. Gordon was mine. In his absence there was a void in my racing enjoyment.

The younger Busch brother fills that void well enough, but there was still room for more. After several encouraging auditions, Juan Montoya has now been selected as my most despised driver. Even after Busch pulled his pit road stunt a few races back, the ridiculous attention Montoya has garnered mixed with his attitude and reckless driving (and crashing) has earned him the spot at the bottom of my list. If my 3rd grade Phys Ed teacher, whom I hate to this day, got sponsored and started turning laps, I’d become a lifetime member of his fan club before I’d acknowledge any talent Montoya might have.

It starts with his unearned media darling status.

Ya, he was a big deal in the open wheel world. This isn’t open wheel, and he’s not doing any better this season than many other rookies do, especially those with lots of time on the track in other type of racers. His International status may lend a bit to that, as the media loves an accent so long as it isn’t southern drawl. The undue attention aside, it’s mainly his reckless aggressive driving that does it for me. It started early in the season when he turned his teammate needlessly to take a win.

His most recent display was at Watkins Glenn when he got turned by Truex Jr. (which was caused as much by his own driving as it was by anything Truex did). He drifted into Harvick, which was unavoidable, and Harvick got upset.

You’ve seen the footage, so you know the scene. I’ll admit, and I’m sure Harvick will too, that he over reacted a bit. But I’ll wager his reaction was not just based on what had happened, but also on his knowledge of how Montoya behaves on the track. Whether the wreck with Harvick was his fault or not, Harvick had good reason to be suspicious and angry at Montoya.

The person whom you would expect to have been in Montoya’s face would be Jeff Burton. Because after Montoya’s car spun clear of the track, he carelessly kept his foot off the brake and let it roll back on the track which left the Cingular / AT&T / Cingular / AT&T / Impala nowhere to go but into the side of Montoya. When I saw Burton walking over to the scuffle between Montoya and Harvick, I half expected Burton to be more upset. Instead he showed his true colors and helped calm the situation, and even in interviews during the caution kept his cool.

The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.