“Within three laps, both [Earnhardt-Ganassi] cars broke down, and it really sucks.”
—South Florida resident Juan Pablo Montoya, whose car suffered a rear suspension issue today at Dover
South Florida-resident Juan Pablo Montoya has started all 12 races of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. In the six he has completed, he has recorded a phenomenal four Top 5s and two Top 10s.
…But in the other six races, Montoya has been besieged by either mechanical failures or wrecks. And today was more of the same, as the driver of the No. 42 suffered a rear suspension failure at Dover that relegated him to a 35th-place finish. Interesting to note is that Earnhardt-Ganassi teammate Jamie McMurray was done for the day shortly thereafter with a similar suspension problem.
It was Race 12 of 36 en route to Ford Championship Weekend in Miami (Nov. 19-21). Montoya sits 112 points outside the Top 12 points standings to qualify for the Chase “playoffs,” which culminate with NASCAR’s series-crowning finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway Nov. 21.
Said Montoya: “For us it was a really tough day. We struggled this weekend here for some reason; it is one of my best tracks. I think we found the reason why. I don’t if we changed a part of the car, but…everyone on this Earnhardt-Ganassi team has worked hard, and this Chevy car has been amazing. We have been really good every week. It is crazy.”
Next Saturday night in Charlotte, South Florida’s NASCAR hometown’er looks to join his colleagues for the Sprint Cup All-Star Race but needs the fan vote to participate. In two weeks (Sunday, May 30), Montoya continues his pursuit of the Sprint Cup Series Championship—to be crowned Nov. 21 on his “home track” of Homestead-Miami Speedway—with Race 13 of 36 at Charlotte.