Juan Montoya heads to Texas for Chase race #8

November 7, 3:08 AMDetroit NASCAR ExaminerJosh Lobdell

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Juan Montoya examines his car prior to practice at Texas Motor Speedway Friday AP Photo/Mike Fuentes

For Juan Montoya, his #42 team, and really 11 other Sprint Cup driers the 2009 Chase for the Championship is over. Jimmie Johnson had dominated this chase, and it all likely hood will win his fourth consecutive championship, however for Montoya and team there are still a few goals to achieve in 2009.

The first on that list has to be an oval win, and the second should be a top five finish in the points. An oval win legitimizes Montoya as an elite NASCAR driver, and a top five finish in the points takes his Earnhardt-Ganassi team into almost elite status. Both are important moving forward with this team.

This might be the track where Montoya has the best chance at scoring his first oval win. He runs very well at this track’s sister the Atlanta Motor Speedway, and it known to like the high speed 1.5 mile tracks.

Of course his average finish at Texas is a 20.4 and he qualified Friday in 20th position, so he has a little work to do. However, if we have learned one thing through out the 2009 chase is that he and his team are capable of getting said work done.