June 25, 2007
By Ron Felix

Juan Montoya Celebrates First Win * CIA Stock Photo

Juan Pablo Montoya already had one Busch Series victory but after that win in Mexico City, he desperately wanted to win a Nextel Cup race, and he did it on Sunday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California. Driving hard enough to pass other cars but still be in a fuel conservation mode, must have been difficult for the Colombian born racer, but he was up to the task, winning the Toyota Save Mart 350. His crew was on the radio the last 40 laps guiding him through the process an telling him every few minutes to be smooth and to conserve fuel.

“They kept telling me to be patient and I’d be fine," Montoya said grinning from ear to ear. "They said don’t over do it and try to save fuel. That’s why we’re here, and that’s why we want to keep winning. That’s why success is here, and that’s why I came to Chip because Chip is like I am. I think the whole team wants to do the same thing. I think I’m more relieved than excited.

"We worked so hard to get here. Working with Chip is an awesome feeling, someone who works with me and believes in me and makes my life a lot easier.”

Montoya's crew had done their calculations and figured to be a lap or two shot on gas, but Montoya crossed the start-finish line in first place and a dry fuel tank. It was only the 17th start for Montoya. After starting in the 32nd spot he took the lead from Jamie McMurray with seven laps to go and just prayed that the car would make it.

Montoya’s best previous finish was fifth at Atlanta earlier this year

“I’ll tell you the truth. I was very surprised by the level of the drivers here," said Montoya. "In Mexico I had a very good car and the drivers were very strong, but here, man the top 20 were – you had to work for your money. At the end we were right behind Kevin and I was saving the tires. I just tried to keep up with him for 15-20 laps and when I started pushing it, everything fell into place. That was huge. I think this will be a big boost for everybody working in the shop.”

McMurray and Carl Edwards, both running in the top ten, ran out of gas with two laps remaining.

The win by Montoya was the first win by a manufacturer other than Chevrolet in the new cars.

Kevin Harvick stayed close enough to the front that he could have taken advantage of the win should anyone in front of him falter, but only McMurray did. Harvick finished second.

"They came on the radio and told me, you have 20 laps to make up one lap of fuel on both cars in front of you are three laps short," Harvick explained the pit strategy. "So I let the No. 42 go and figured they were both going to run out of gas and I just needed to stay in front of the No. 99 is what they told me on the radio. Obviously he ran out of gas, too. You know, that's how we played it, and he didn't run out of gas."

Robby Gordon led the first 48 laps but pit strategy was out of sync with the rest of the field and he could never catch up once he made his final pit stop. Gordon finished 16th.

“You look at the monitor and look at the guys who beat us and they were nowhere all day long," said an irritated Gordon. "It’s just disappointing that fuel strategy makes a difference of a race win or not. With our rental program that we get, obviously we don’t get the same mileage that Biffle and Rudd do and we’re gonna have to discuss that because we weren’t gonna make it. I told Gene (Crew Chief Nead), ‘I’d rather just run out of fuel than finish 16th. He said, ‘There’s no way we’re gonna make it,’ and we barely made it the way we did it, so, obviously, we’ve got to get with the boys at Roush and Yates and figure out why we’re getting a quarter of a gallon less per lap than the other guys. It’s a big deal.”

Jeff Burton brought his RCR car home in the third spot with teammate Clint Bowyer in tow for fourth. Then came Greg Biffle for fifth followed by Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Boris Said and Denny Hamlin to round out the top ten.

Jeff Gordon was just happy to finish where he did.

"It was a great run," said Gordon. 'I thought Steve Letarte and everyone on the DuPont Chevrolet just called this race perfectly to come from that far back to a top-10. We had a great car, once we got in to some clean air we made some good lap times. We played the strategy the best way we possibly could. We had some cautions fall our way, which was some good fortune for us to gain some spots. Those guys were able to make it all the way, we just weren't and had to come in for a splash and go.

"It was fun racing with Tony (Stewart), I think he is one of the greats out here. I don't mind if we bump and bang every once and a while as long as we don't crash. It was fun to be up there, to come from that far back. I will tell you what, it was tough. I thought there for a few times I wasn't going to be passing any cars, I just couldn't make any passes."

The victory for Montoya marked the first time anyone had come from that far back (32nd) to win at Infineon.

“I tell you. This is as big as any victory," said Montoya. "You could say it’s as big as winning the Indy 500 or winning Long Beach. For me winning Long Beach was probably cooler than winning the Indy 500 because it was my first ever big race. Winning here is my first ever big race in stock cars. They’re all right up there. I kinda think this is my favorite.

Montoya, obviously was the rookie of the race. Unofficially Montoya leads David Ragan by 15 points (180-165) in the Raybestos® Rookie standings. He took Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the eighth time in 16 races this season.

Jeff Gordon still leads in the Nextel Cup point standings -- by 271 over Denny Hamlin and 366 over Jimmie Johnson. That situation may change on Monday or Tuesday however, since both Gordon and Johnson's teams were penalized by NASCAR on Friday. Any fines, points deductions / and or penalties probably will be meted out then.

The Nextel Cup Series moves to New Hampshire International Speedway next Sunday, July 1, 2007, for the Lennox Industrial Tools 300. TNT will cover the race live -- scheduled to start at 2:00 p.m. Eastern for the setup show and the green flag will drop at 2:35 p.m. Eastern time.

For full final race results...     (Insider Racing News)
For top-40 Nextel Cup drivers points...     (Insider Racing News)