Juan Pablo Montoya
No. 42 Target Chevy
Team: Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing
Crew Chief: Chris Heroy
2011 Stats
Wins: 0
Top-5s: 2
Top-10s: 8
Poles: 2
DNF: 3
Average Start: 18.2
Average Finish: 18.5
Races Led: 15
Laps Led: 125
% Laps Completed: 99.5%
Points Finish: 21st
2011 in a Nutshell
One year removed from winning his second Cup race and two years removed from surprisingly making the Chase, everything in 2011 was supposed to come together for Juan Pablo Montoya. But a lack of speed, little patience and myriad of other issues including a midseason crew chief swap, the former Indy 500 endured a dismal and frustrating season that left him both winless and out of the Chase.
Reasons to Believe
Montoya has won in every discipline he’s ever competed in … New crew chief Chris Heroy comes over from Hendrick Motorsports highly regarded and with a background in engineering, an area EGR has severely lacking in … An organizational overhaul is exactly what EGR needed … Unlike many other former open-wheel drivers who’ve made the transition to NASCAR, Montoya has adapted well to the nuances of driving a stock car … Though he has yet to pickup a checkered flag on an oval, Montoya has been close numerous times and runs competitively on intermediate tracks … Confidence is never an issue.
Reasons to Doubt
He is a bully on the track and despite his world-class credentials doesn’t have the respect of the guys he races against every week … Commitment can sometimes be in question … He has a fiery personality who often lets his emotions get the best of him … Communication between driver and team has been noticeably lacking … Despite said numerous close calls, the fact is he’s still looking for his first victory on an oval … Chris Heroy has no experience being a Sprint Cup crew chief and working with a driver who possesses the temperament that Montoya does, will be unlike anything Heroy has ever experienced before … Frequently loses his patience, forgetting that Cup races are typically 300-500-mile affairs … Limped to the finish line a year ago with only one top-10 in the final 14 races.
Area of Strength: Job security
The relationship between Chip Ganassi and Juan Pablo Montoya is as strong as any owner-driver in the garage. As result, it was no surprise when Ganassi rewarded his driver last season with a new long-term contract, despite results which thus far have been tepid. Regardless, everyone at EGR knows Montoya isn’t going anywhere and it’s in everyone’s best interest to placate the driver and find a way to make things work at the racetrack.
Area of Weakness: Playing well with others
If you were to take a blind survey and ask drivers who they disliked the most, it’s guaranteed Juan Pablo Montoya’s name would be at or near the top of everyone’s list. On the track, the seven-time winner in F1 has no issues manhandling his way through someone. But when a fellow driver uses their bumper on the 42 Target car, he acts like some kind of crime against humanity has been committed and often goes out of his way to seek vengeance, even if it can be a detriment to his own machine. Like it or not, success at NASCAR’s highest-level requires patience and making as few enemies on the track as possible. A lesson Montoya would be best-served to learn if he wants any measure of sustained success.
Best-case Scenario For 2012
A combination of 2009 and ’10 which sees Juan Pablo Montoya win a race, qualify for the Chase and put together a run at his first Sprint Cup championship.
Worst-case Scenario For 2012
Montoya continues to make enemies on the track, the bottom completely falls out at Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing and at the end of the year, Montoya decides he would rather race sports cars than continue on with NASCAR.
In Their Words
“It was a bittersweet season; I’m disappointed in the results, but not the effort. We were 21st in points [Montoya] and 27th [McMurray], and that’s pathetic for a team of our ability and resources.”
–Chip Ganassi
Predicted Number of Wins: 0
The Racing Geek’s Final Thought
If Juan Pablo Montoya can keep his composure and worry more about collecting points rather than continuing to pick silly fights with the guy’s he races against weekly, and if the organizational changes that swept through Earnhardt-Ganassi do as intended, and if Chris Heroy, thanks to his Hendrick pedigree, can coax some more speed out of the EGR Chevys, then it’s very possible Montoya could find himself in the Chase for the second time. That however, is an awful lot of ifs.
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