Montoya spins Pruett to claim first NASCAR win
Montoya spins Pruett to claim first NASCAR win
By NASCAR.COM
March 4, 2007
06:16 PM EST
Juan Montoya took the lead with eight laps to go at the Telcel-Motorola 200 on Sunday and went on to Victory Lane for the first time in a NASCAR series, but the win was bittersweet as the rookie spun teammate Scott Pruett to claim the lead.
On Lap 72, Montoya was looking to pass teammate and leader Pruett in Turn 1. Montoya clipped the rear of Pruett, forcing him to spin. Montoya suffered some left-front damage but was able to drive off with the lead. Pruett fell back to 17th.
Montoya survived a green-white-checkers finish, holding off defending race winner Denny Hamlin who finished second. Boris Said finished third, Carl Edwards came across in fourth and Scott Pruett overcame the late spin to finish fifth.
Montoya clearly had the best car of the day and had to overcome adversity to earn his first victory.
The Colombian took the lead on Lap 3 when he passed pole sitter Pruett going into Turn 1. Montoya went on to lead 33 laps and was cruising to a victory until a malfunction during a green-flag pit stop on Lap 45.
His No. 42 Dodge only took in eight gallons of fuel forcing the driver back into pit road about 10 laps later.
A break in the form of a caution saved Montoya. Just as he was ready to pit, the No. 13 of Todd Souza got tangled up with Jorge Goeters in the No. 27 bringing out a full course caution.
Montoya pitted, the crew fixed the fuel tank and put enough gas in for the rookie to make it to the finish. More importantly, Montoya was also able to put on four fresh tires, which would help him move his way up to the front.
On the restart, Montoya started 19th and in four laps climbed all the way up to fifth.