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NASCAR: Speeding violation helps Johnson win — Montoya boils over after being penalized
By Jenna Fryer, The Associated Press
Monday, July 27, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS — Jimmie Johnson cashed in on the most expensive speeding ticket in NASCAR history yesterday, grabbing an improbable third victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway when a penalty to Juan Pablo Montoya blew the race wide open.
In a performance that mirrored his dominating Indianapolis 500 victory nine years ago, Montoya was in cruise control as he led 116 laps and built a 5-second lead over the competition. Then NASCAR flagged him for speeding on a routine pit stop with 35 laps remaining, and the driver became unglued.
"I swear on my children and my wife that I was not speeding!" he shouted over his radio. "There is no way! Thank you NASCAR for screwing my day."
Crew chief Brian Pattie begged his driver to calm down and focus on salvaging a solid points day, to no avail.
"Don't tell me to relax, dude!" Montoya yelled. "We had this in the bag."
Indeed he did, but the penalty took him out of contention and relegated him to an 11th-place finish. Montoya, who had moved as high as sixth in the Sprint Cup standings as he ran out front, instead lost a spot and is now 10th in the race for the Chase for the championship.
The difference in his paycheck was severe: Johnson earned $448,001 for the victory, while Montoya's share of the purse was knocked down to $224,048.
The performance was reminiscent of Montoya's win in the 2000 Indianapolis 500, when he led 167 of 200 laps in his first race at the storied track. His team celebrated his return yesterday with a retro paint scheme that duplicated that winning car, and as he clicked off lap after lap, it was deja vu for the Colombian driver.
"I was cruis[ing]. I was super fast," a calmer Montoya said after the race.
Too fast, actually.
NASCAR said the electronic timing system caught Montoya twice exceeding the limit as he drove down pit road.
"There's nothing to prove wrong," said Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition. "It's about as simple math as you can use."
The penalty opened up the race for anyone else to claim, and overshadowed Johnson's third win in the past four years at Indianapolis. Johnson, who won for the third time this season, also became the first driver to win in consecutive seasons since the speedway opened to NASCAR 16 years ago.
Johnson wouldn't speculate on if he would have won the race if Montoya had not been penalized.
"I do know I have the trophy," he said. "I hate it for him. I know it is a story, Juan led so many laps, but when we come back and look at it two months from now the stat sheet is going to have a 'W' next to my name. That's all that matters."
Current points leader Tony Stewart, a two-time Brickyard winner who finished third, wasn't sure anyone could beat Montoya. A victim of his own Indianapolis heartbreak, Stewart could commiserate with Montoya's disappointments.
"He never really was challenged all day," Stewart said. "He did a great job. I know what he's feeling like -- he's got to be sick inside. He had the car, he had the talent to do it, he just made a mistake and it cost him."
Johnson had to hold off Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin to get it, though. After Montoya's penalty, Martin moved into the lead for the restart with 24 laps to go and Johnson lined up on his outside.
Johnson sailed to the front and pulled away, only to have to hold off Martin over a nerve-racking final five laps. Martin, who at 50 became the oldest polesitter in Indy's 100 years, finished second and moved up two spots in the standings to ninth.
It was a 1-2 finish for Rick Hendrick for the second consecutive race -- Martin and Jeff Gordon led the way in Chicago two weeks ago -- and gave the team owner his seventh victory in 16 visits to The Brickyard.
Greg Biffle was third and followed by Brian Vickers and Kevin Harvick, who grabbed his best finish in 15 races.
A cut tire caused Kyle Busch to finish 38th and drop out of contention for the Chase. The bad day cost him four spots in the standings. He is 14th with six races left to set the 12-driver Chase field.
The tire problems that plagued last year's race were never a factor, as Goodyear made good on its promise to find the right compound for one of the biggest races of the season.
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NASCAR, fans move on after '08 Indy debacle
By WILL GRAVES, AP Sports Writer
July 26, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS — John Destin wiped the sweat from his forehead with a $5 can of beer, ran his hands through his brown hair and took a sip.
It didn't matter that it was only 10:30 a.m. or that the green flag for Sunday's NASCAR race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was still four hours away.
The sun was out. The beer was cold. The nightmare that was NASCAR's visit to the Brickyard last summer was firmly in Destin's rearview mirror.
"I'm over it," Destin said. "I hadn't really thought about it to be honest until somebody asked me."
That's the way NASCAR and Goodyear would prefer it following the embarrassing tire debacle that marred last year's race, which was reduced to a series of 10- to 12-lap sprints because the tires had trouble holding up.
Jimmie Johnson held off Carl Edwards for the victory, but the maddening day at one of the circuit's showcase events left fans fuming and Goodyear scrambling.
It took a ton of research and seven tire tests, but Goodyear appears to have gotten the formula right.
Practice sessions leading up to the 400-mile race produced long runs with no major accidents, and four-time series champion Jeff Gordon called last year's tire woes a "non-issue."
During the prerace drivers meeting, NASCAR vice president Robin Pemberton called Goodyear senior vice president Jean-Claude Kihn "my new best friend" and congratulated the company for developing a tire they expect to hold up to the unique challenge of racing at Indy.
"I speak for everybody, good job," Pemberton said.
NASCAR wasn't the only one trying to reach out to fans.
The track slashed ticket prices along the backstretch — from $75 to $45 — to help make the race more affordable during the economic downturn.
While there were still large pockets of empty seats less than an hour before the race, track spokesman Ron Green called the promotion a success. Green, however, said the drivers deserve most of the credit for doing their best to ease the fears of fans still steamed at last year's disaster.
"When Tony Stewart left his last tire test here and said they have a tire that's going to make a good race, the following week we had our best week of selling tickets the entire year," Green said. "That continued on after the test."
Still, there were plenty of good deals on the corners outside the massive 2.5-mile oval just hours before the race.
Karen Morris and boyfriend Michael Smith didn't decide to head to Indy until Saturday night, when the forecast predicted blue skies and cool temperatures.
No tickets? No problem. Morris and Smith picked up a pair of seats along the pit road terrace for $40 a piece from a scalper, half off the $80 face value.
"We might have gotten them even cheaper, but we didn't want to spend all day looking for it," Morris said.
The bigger surprise to Morris was the lack of traffic around the famed speedway. The couple left Columbus, Ohio, around 5:30 a.m. and by 10 a.m. they were standing in line at Stewart's merchandise trailer.
"We thought maybe we wouldn't get here until 11 or noon at the earliest," Smith said as he waited to buy a bib emblazoned with Stewart's No. 14 for a friend's son. "I don't know if it's good for NASCAR, but it's good for me."
Stewart's stand was one of the few where business was hopping on Sunday morning. While the crowd stood 10-deep to pick up gear featuring the Indiana native — who began the day atop the season points race — vendors at nearby stands appeared to have plenty of time on their hands.
There was no line at all at stands for David Ragan and Cliff Bowyer, and a couple of Stewart fans mocked the slow going at next door neighbor Kyle Busch's truck.
"Oh, there wouldn't be anybody there anyway even if we were packed," Smith said with a laugh.
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Time for NASCAR to show itself
By Dustin Long
July 26, 2009
Sunday's race at Indy won't be remembered for Jimmie Johnson winning it but for Juan Pablo Montoya losing it _ because of a penalty for speeding on pit road.
Many fans will question if Montoya was really speeding. Those who are suspicious of NASCAR may never be convinced although series officials told a few of us after the race how much Montoya was over the speed limit (more on that in a moment). Of couse, those who are suspicious will say that NASCAR could have just made those numbers up to us.
The point is that credibility is key for NASCAR. Any officials for that matter. There needs to be transparency. By having to go on NASCAR's word that Monotya was indeed speeding and someone else wasn't creates questions of if NASCAR is playing favorites. The old joke is that if you tick off NASCAR, it's harder to get through inspection or they'll catch you on pit road for speeding.
Some might contend this happens all the time. Frankly, I don't carry a speed gun on pit road and couldn't tell you if it did but even if there is a little doubt in the back of one's mind -- especially competitors, that's dangerous.
Consider what Chad Knaus said after the race about this issue: "We've got timing and scoring that each one of you looks at as we're running around the race track. That's what we watch and base ourselves off throughtout the event. Once you hit pit road, we don't have any reference. We have mathematical equations based on the tire stagger, gear ratio, the pit road speed we have to work off of.
"I'm hoping that at some point we'll be able to see the pit road speeds published because that will allow us to work wtihin limits that we're comfortable with.''
We're about to enter into the second decade of 2000 and yet there isn't a willingness to make pit road speeds available or a way to do so can be troubling for some, especially when you watch racing on TV and can see how fast the car is going through the corners or elsewhere on the track.
Just the questions that NASCAR could randomly decide to penalize someone for speeding and not penalize someone even if they are over the speed limit is disconcerting and should concern NASCAR.
On to the race
So, what was the deal with Juan Pablo Montoya's speeding penalty while in the lead with 36 laps to go?
Pit road speed is 55 mph. NASCAR allows a 4.99 mph allowance. Thus a driver could go 59.99 mph and NOT get penalilzed. There are eight timed zones on pit road. Sprint Cup Series Director John Darby, reading from a sheet of pit road speeds of cars during the race, said that Montoya went 60.06 mph in zone 2 and 60.11 mph in zone 4 before getting to his pit stall.
Montoya was over the limit. Thus the penalty.
Montoya vehemently disagreed over his radio to his team. Here's some of what he said to his team:
“Thank you NASCAR for screwing my day,’’ Montoya said in a measured tone on his radio.
Told to relax, Montoya fired back, his mood more agitated: “What do you want me to relax, dude? We had this in the bag, and they screw us because I … WAS … NOT … SPEEDING.’
“Dude, I guarantee you,’’ Montoya said on the radio to his team. “I swear on my children and my wife, I was not speeding. It’s unfair. It’s a rip-off. It’s absolutely a rip-off. You know what I mean? It’s incredible. I hope (NASCAR President) Mike Helton is listening to this because you should double-check what just happened because I got robbed.’’
Montoya never had a shot after the penalty, falling to 12th and finishing 11th. After the race he met with crew chief Brian Pattie and they privately talked in between the haulers in the cramped area outside the garage. Montoya then spoke to reporters and was calm but the disappoitnment was obvioius.
Oh yes, Jimmie Johnson won
Yes, Johnson won for the third time in the last four years at the Brickyard. Having Montoya (who led 116 of the first 124 laps) out of the way because of the penalty was key. Still Johnson had to earn this win. He passed Mark Martin on the outside _ something that is very hard to do here _ with 24 laps to go off a restart. Then he held off Martin who charged at the end.
The win could be key because seven of the last 11 Brickyard winners have gone on to win the championship. What does Johnson think about that?
"It doesn't mean much to us in that respect,'' he said. "But I certainly hope that it makes people think and wonder and worry, espeically the guys in the garage area. That would be helpful for us. But this track is so difficult. We run on it once a year. The teams that are on top of their game end up successful here.''
Something to think about that with this win, car owner Rick Hendrick has seven victories in 16 Brickyard races. That's almost 50 percent. That's amazing.
What's up with Kyle Busch?
Busch had another tough day, blew a right front tire and crashed. He finished 38th and fell four spots to 14th in the points. He's outside the top 12 by 82 points. He has six races to get back into the Chase. He can do it but he can't afford too many problems. Still, it's hard to imagine Busch not making it even with the tough stretches he has. We'll see.
As for the blown right front tire, Goodyear's Greg Stucker said it was "self-inflicted.'' He said it was the team's setup that caused the issue.
Tough weekend for Dale Jr.
First he's puking his guts out because of a stomach virus earlier this week and saying he's never felt that awful before. Then he's running well in Sunday's race before his engine blows and pukes oil all over part of the track and pit road. He finished 36th but car owner Rick Hendrick defended Dale Jr. afterward:
"The 88, I can tell you those guys are really working hard,'' he said. "And Junior is putting forth a ton of effort. I mean, I can see it. He and Lance (McGrew) are really working well together. It seems like if they get good momentum, something happens.
"I feel like those guys have turned the corner and really the chemistry is good. I'll tell you we're not happy with the way the car has run, but I am very happy with the chemistry and what's happening right now, It hink we're just getting very, very close.''
Hmmm, Maybe Lance's interim crew chief tag might be replace and he'll just be known as the crew chief for Earnhardt down the road.
QUICK HITS
» Estimated attendance was 180,000. That's down 60,000 from last year but ties for the largest crowd of the season this year. The estimated attendance for the Daytona 500 also was 180,000.
» Goodyear had no tire problems today. Even so, Greg Stucker told me afterward that they'll plan on a tire test here next year just to keep abreast of the track as it ages.
» Greg Biffle moved into the top 12 in points with Busch falling out. Biffle is 11th. Matt Kenseth is 12th in the points -- the last spot for the Chase. He leads 13th-place David Reutimann by 68 points with six races to go until the field is set.
» Jimmie Johnson won $448,001 for the victory. The smallest payout was 141,825 to 42nd-place finisher Dave Blaney.
» Kevin Harvick finished sixth. it's his best finish since placing fourth at Atlanta in March
» Brian Vickers placed fifth. It's his third consecutive top-10 finish.
» Key time coming up for David Ragan's team. Chris Andrews who had been helping Ragan better communicate with the team's engineer and crew chief Jimmie Fennig is back to his main engineering duties after spending five races with the team. Key is how well the team works together. Ragan finished 24th.
» Roush Fenway Racing has told Jamie McMurray he's free to look at other organizations. McMurray's contract expires after this season and the team has looked at keeping him. But what's complicating things is that Roush must downsize from five teams to four after this year (the other team going to Yates Racing) to meet NASCAR's guidelines. Wtih DeWalt leaving Matt Kenseth's team, that hurts McMurray. Kenseth is higher on the pecking order at Roush (he's a former champion and has never missed the Chase). So, the sponsors they're courting want to be with Kenseth. Also, Roush used to sign drivers to contracts even if they didn't have the sponsorship to give them a fulltime deal. They're not going to do that now, so with looking to fill Kenseth's sponsorhsip needs, McMurray might have to look elsewhere for a ride in 2010.
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Car problems push Kyle Busch out of NASCAR top 12
By Dustin Long, The Virginian-Pilot
July 27, 2009
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Kyle Busch is working on his attitude. Now, he needs some help with his car and his luck after falling out of the top 12 in points for the first time since February.
Busch scraped the wall a couple of times and later blew a right front tire and crashed in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He finished 38th, dropping him four spots to 14th in the season standings.
He's 82 points out of 12th - the last spot for the Chase - with six races to go before the title field is set.
Earlier this weekend, Busch said he knew he needed to adjust his attitude, especially toward his team. That was tested Sunday when he struggled with his car and then blew the tire.
"This is obviously frustrating because I don't know if it was our car, the tire or what," Busch said. "The guys on pit road were going to save this day because you can't pass out there. I showed that. I can't even pass a lapped car. Something with our cars maybe."
It wasn't the tire. Greg Stucker, director of race tire sales for Goodyear, said the problem with Busch's right front tire was "self-inflicted."
"We stress to the guys you still need to look at your setups and work on it, and some guys pay attention and some guys don't," Stucker said.
Busch's problem wasn't the only one for Joe Gibbs Racing. Denny Hamlin broke a driveshaft and finished 34th. Rookie Joey Logano started at the rear because of an engine change before the race, but finished 12th.
Mcmurray's future hinges on sponsors
DeWalt's departure from Matt Kenseth's team after this season could impact Jamie McMurray's future with Roush Fenway Racing.
"The question with Jamie is whether or not we can close out with more sponsors before he has to accept an offer from somebody else," said Geoff Smith, president of Roush Racing.
The organization must cut back from five teams to four after this season to meet NASCAR guidelines.
Smith said that three of the four teams Roush plans to keep are those of Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and David Ragan. Then, it's down to Matt Kenseth and McMurray.
Smith admits there's much interest in companies to sponsor Kenseth.
"It makes it harder for the 26," Smith said of finding funding for McMurray's team with interest high in Kenseth's team. "Matt has got in the hierarchy of things in the garage, Matt is viewed as more pre-eminent."
Goodyear's pleased with tire performance
Unlike last year when tires blew out so often NASCAR had to call constant cautions to allow teams to change them, there were no such problems this year.
Goodyear had seven tire tests since last year's race in preparation for Sunday, running more than 14,000 miles total in those tests.
"Wear was excellent, everything looked good," said Stucker.
Stucker said that Goodyear plans to come back and test next year to check the tire compound as the track ages.
attendance totals: good news, bad news
The estimated attendance Sunday was 180,000. That's 60,000 less than last year's attendance. It's the smallest crowd to attend a stock car race at the track. Still, the crowd ties that of the Daytona 500 for the largest this season.
Biffle moves up in race for the chase
With Kyle Busch falling out of the top 12 in points, Greg Biffle moved in. Biffle climbed two spots to 11th after finishing fourth.
Matt Kenseth is 12th in the points. David Reutimann, who finished eighth, sits 13th and is 68 points behind Kenseth.
PIT PASSES
Jimmie Johnson's win was the 43rd of his career, putting him one behind Bill Elliott in the all-time list.... Kevin Harvick's sixth-place finish was his best since placing fourth at Atlanta in March.... After having 11 cautions in last year's race, there were three Sunday.... The nine lead changes tied the record low for this race.
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