“We were coming….I told the guys anyway at the end: ‘We need to finish; we need the points.’” —South Florida’s Juan Pablo Montoya, who avoided a couple of late-race melees to score a Top 3 finish in Atlanta
After qualifying third, South Florida resident Juan Pablo Montoya held to the front and scored a third-place finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway today. It was Race 4 of NASCAR’s 2010 Sprint Cup season, which culminates at Homestead-Miami Speedway Nov. 21 with the series-crowning Ford Championship Weekend.
“Never really had the fastest car except at the end before the last pit stop,” said Montoya. “We were coming, and I thought we had a chance to get to the 2 [car of eventual-winner Kurt Busch].”
Montoya began whittling into Busch’s lead before the final caution and was left wondering what could have been if not for two restarts that led to a green-white-checkered finish.
Said Montoya: “Definitely I thought if I got anywhere close to him, I’m sure I could make a move. It’s one of those deals; it’s OK….It’s a good points day for us.”
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series takes a week off before resuming the pursuit for fall glory in Miami at Bristol Motor Speedway. All three of NASCAR’s premier racing series—the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series—again will crown Champions during Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 19-21).
Kids FREE: Homestead-Miami Speedway is the only venue ever to host all of North America’s premier motorsports Championships, and it’s more of the same this fall as THE Championship Track is the site for both the IZOD IndyCar (Oct. 1-2) Championship and NASCAR’s Ford Championship Weekend (Nov. 19-21). Kids 12 & under will be admitted FREE to six of the seven Championship finales. For ticket information, please call (866) 409-RACE or visit THEChampionshipTrack.com.
Photo courtesy: Jason Smith, Getty Images Sport