CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Juan Pablo Montoya is still smarting from Mark Martin’s late-race strategy that prevented Montoya from winning at New Hampshire.
Martin led all three laps of a final sprint to the finish, and slowed his car in front of Montoya’s to block a potential race-winning pass with two laps to go Sunday. Montoya was upset with the strategy — he accused Martin of “stopping” his car as they cleared the first turn — and does not sound over it.
“I haven’t really talked to Mark at all,” he said Tuesday. “I think he did an awesome race, and he did what he had to do to win the race. I wasn’t the happiest guy. It’s fun when you do it to someone else, but it’s (not) when they do it to you. It’s part of it.”
The former Formula One star does not have a lot of experience in NASCAR racing for victories. He won on the road course in Sonoma during his 2007 rookie season, but has yet to make a return visit to Victory Lane.
He was flagged for speeding late in a race at Indianapolis that he dominated in July, and the penalty took him out of contention for the win. His late duel with Martin was a first for the Colombian.
When Martin slowed his pace, it caused Montoya to let off the gas and he lost all momentum headed into the second turn. Denny Hamlin passed Montoya, who had to settle for third. It still lifted him seven spots in the standings to fourth.
Martin, meanwhile, won his series-best fifth race of the season and retained his lead in the Chase for the championship.
Montoya, in just his third season of NASCAR, said he’ll find out over the next nine races if his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team is a legitimate championship contender.
“We have to bring our ‘A’ Game, and we did (at New Hampshire),” he said. “There’s no holding back, nothing. We have to go. We have to try to go every week. Some weeks are going to be better than others. I don’t even know if we are ready yet. We are doing the best we can and hopefully we are going to be good enough to at least fight for it.
“We don’t have the experience yet or anything. It’s our first Chase, and we just want to make sure we don’t leave anything on the table.”
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