Through two Chase Races, Juan Motoya is proving he belongs among the NASCAR elite AP Photo/Nick Waas
Juan Montoya had an uphill battle in this year’s chase. It is his first chase, and he had a poor average finish on many of the 10 Chase tracks. On top of that he has yet to win on an oval, and he isn’t exactly driving for one of the Elite NASCAR Cup operations. With all that being said, no one should count out Montoya in this battle.
Much like a week ago in New Hampshire, Juan put in a dominating performance. Whatever he and Crew Chief Brain Pattie have figured out, it has Juan running with the big dogs of this sport.
Once again Juan practices well, qualifies second, runs up front all day, and comes home with a fourth place finish. Regardless of what the other 11 Chase drivers are doing, Juan and his #42 team are handling their business. How that will play out over the next eight races remains to be seen.
The simple fact here is Juan may put in a performance over these ten races that is wroth of the championship, but may still lose said championship to Mark Martin or Jimmie Johnson. However a little bit of NASCAR history may be on Juan’s side.
Since the Chase began no driver who won the Dover Chase Race has gone onto win the Cup. Furthermore no NASCAR Chase points leader following the Dove Chase Race has gone onto win the Cup either. That may be bad news for Martin (the post Dover points leader), and Johnson (winner of the Dover Chase Race).
Following last year’s Dover Chase race, eventual Champion Johnson, sat third in points 10 points back of leader Carl Edwards. Maybe this history speaks well of Montoya’s Cup quest, but there is still an awful lot of racing to go.
Click here for our extensive Chase coverage with reports on all 12 drivers in this years Chase!
Comments