Montoya finished Martinsville one spot behind Jimmie Johnson Getty Images/John Harrelson

What a rough weekend for Juan Montoya this turned out to be. He qualified 21st raced his heart out and came home third, in the process lost 5 points to point leader Jimmie Johnson. On top of that had Bob Griese call him out on an ESPN College Football game where Griese said Montoya, was out having a taco.

While Griese eventually apologized for the comment, it really shows the disdain many sports people have for NASCAR, and their true ignorance of the goings on in NASCAR.

Simply put Montoya is one of the greatest stories of the 2009 Sprint Cup season, and for Griese to marginalize it so it pretty offensive, not to mention the obvious racial undertones of such an ignorant comment.

In the race Juan was his typical aggressive self, he and Jeff Gordon had a few run ins, and it left Jeff wondering what he had done to make Juan so upset with him. In the end it doesn’t seem that Juan was mad at any one but that he was racing to the front regardless of who he had to run through to get there.

Frankly, this is an attitude the current generation of NASCAR stars could use more of. Gordon’s motto use to be Refuse to Lose, now he talks about Montoya, post race, like he was afraid of him.

Say what you will about Jimmie Johnson, and his domination of the NASCAR playoff system, but at the very least he is out there trying to score maximum points each and every race. It is on the 42 other drivers each week to stop him; so far none of them has proven they can do just that each week.

For Juan, regardless of where he finished in the final points standing, he has proven that he belongs among the Cup series elite. Moving forward that is a good place for him, and for NASCAR to be.