SPEEDWAY, Ind. - Juan Pablo Montoya has seen the Brickyard 400 slip away from him more than he’d like to remember.
In 2009, the Colombian led 116 laps of the 160 lap race, but a late-race speeding penalty spoiled his hopes to become the first driver to win both the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400. In 2010, Montoya led 86 laps and was near the front of the pack all day, but crashed with 16 laps remaining.
Michael Andretti is widely known around Gasoline Alley as the best driver to never win the Indianapolis 500. If that title were given for the Brickyard 400, it would surely go to Montoya.
Now a full-time Verizon IndyCar Series driver, Montoya returns to NASCAR this weekend driving for Roger Penske hoping to turn his Brickyard 400 luck around.
“I don’t know if Indianapolis owes me a win, but I probably deserve to have won at this point,” Montoya said. “I’ve run really well there in my Cup career, but I just wasn’t able to close the deal. Maybe I was just waiting to win for Roger Penske.”
Experience won’t be an issue for Montoya as he makes his return to Indianapolis. He’s made seven Brickyard 400 starts, five US Grand Prix starts, two Indianapolis 500 starts, one Grand Prix of Indianapolis start and a sports car start in his diverse racing career.
He’s currently fifth in the IndyCar points standings with a win at Pocono earlier this month. He was in the running during May’s Indianapolis 500, but a pit road speeding penalty on his final stop put an end to his hopes of winning.
Montoya’s experience around the famed speedway will be put to the test this weekend as he needs to quickly get readjusted to driving in NASCAR again, a task that competitor Jimmie Johnson believes will be tough.
“I think we all know and understand how talented he is in a race car, and recently in IndyCar,” Johnson said. “You look at the time it took to get back up to speed there (In IndyCar), it took half a season or something to get going. It will take him time here.”
On Montoya’s side is the recent success of his Penske team. His teammate Brad Keselowski has won two of the last three races while his other teammate Joey Logano has a pair of wins this season to his own credit.
His team, led by veteran NASCAR crew chief Greg Erwin, has tried to make Montoya feel at home back in NASCAR. Montoya admitted that it took him a while to get used to the stock car again, pointing out that the fast way to drive a NASCAR is loose while if he tried that in an IndyCar he wouldn’t make it out of the corner.
But despite his time away from the sport, the oftentimes polarizing Montoya joked that he returns to NASCAR a little nicer as he got reacquainted with the NASCAR garage.
“I felt maybe like an outsider the first six months I came to NASCAR and then it was like normal,” Montoya said. “It’s good. You know how everything works, so I don’t really feel like an outsider because you know how to do everything…You know where you need to go sign in and where to drive around in the garage.”
Penske’s ownership resume already includes 15 Indianapolis 500 wins, a Daytona 500 win, 12 IndyCar Championships and the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.
However, the Brickyard 400 is one major victory that has eluded Roger Penske’s celebrated career.
Montoya will look to change that Sunday.
“It’s the last thing left on the Penske bucket list,” Keselowski said. “I think that’s why you see a third car here with Juan Pablo Montoya. He wants to make it happen and Juan is certainly known for his talents here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. So he’s all in.”
