“I think last year we were too conservative here against Mark Martin.”
—South Florida-resident Juan Pablo Montoya—who won the pole first for tomorrow’s race—reflecting on his duel for a win his last time around at New Hampshire
South Florida-resident Juan Pablo Montoya captured his first pole of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season for tomorrow’s run at New Hampshire—Race 17 of 36 en route to NASCAR’s series-crowning Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway Nov. 19-21.
The driver of the No. 42 has 10 races to lock in a Chase “playoff” bid, and he’s currently 161 points outside the cut-off. After qualifying first for tomorrow’s race, Montoya was asked how his 2010 season compares to his 2009 campaign through 16 races.
“We are miles ahead right now,” said the Miami resident. “We have more Top 10s [eight], more Top 5s [four]; we have a much faster race car than what we had last year at this point. But we had a blown engine; we got together with our teammate; we’ve been involved in I don’t know how many wrecks from other people.
“It sucks, because we have been right behind the wrecks. We have been a row or two rows behind where they wreck, and they block the whole track and right there you are just a passenger—we have had like seven of those this year. So when you have that many bad races and you are only 160 points out, I mean, I think we are doing pretty good.”
One year ago at this point of the season, Montoya was holding the 12th position in the overall points, the cut-off spot to qualify for the Sprint Cup Chase “playoffs” that culminate in Miami this fall. It is worth noting that in 2009, he rattled off nine Top 10s in a span of 14 races to vault from 15th to a Chase spot.
Tomorrow’s race at New Hampshire (1 p.m. ET, TNT) is Race 17 of 36 en route to Ford Championship Weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Nov. 19-21).