Even though Denny Hamlin and Jimmie
Johnson had a spirited battle for the win in the closing laps of Sunday's Tums
Fast Relief 500 at Martinsville, Juan Pablo Montoya's beating and banging with
Jeff Gordon in the early going turned out to be more of a crowd-pleaser for
the fans on hand at the flat, short track.
Montoya lived up to his reputation as being an aggressive driver when he
repeatedly bumped Gordon, a seven-time Martinsville winner, for position more
than 100 laps into the race. Gordon and Montoya expressed their displeasure
towards one another on their team radios shortly after their duel.
"It got to a point, hey, I'm here, and you're not going to push me around,"
Montoya said of Gordon. "If you give me room, I'll give you room. He wasn't
giving me any, so I played the same game."
After tangling with Gordon, Montoya chased down Johnson and then squeezed by
him to take the lead. Montoya ran in front for 37 laps, and the fans at
Martinsville were delighted with the Colombian outmuscling the Hendrick
Motorsports duo.
Hamlin held off Johnson for the win, and Montoya drove to a third-place
finish, his career best at Martinsville. Montoya said he approached Gordon at
the conclusion of the race to assure they remain on good terms.
"I talked to him afterwards, and we're good," Montoya said.
After finishing fifth, Gordon admitted he gave Montoya some breathing room
later in the race in fear of another incident between the two.
"I just tried not to make him mad anymore and race him as clean as I could,"
Gordon said. "I hope it's not something that transfers over, because I don't
know really what I did, if I did do something."
Montoya was coming off a season-worst finish of 35th at Charlotte, which
pretty much knocked him out of title contention. Despite five top-five
finishes in the Chase, Montoya trails leader Johnson by 200 points with four
races to go.
During his three-year Sprint Cup career, Montoya has had plenty of episodes
where his aggressive driving got the best of him. Montoya tangled with Tony
Stewart at Texas early in his 2007 Cup rookie season. Later that year at
Watkins Glen, Montoya crashed into Kevin Harvick with a shoving match that
ensued after the accident. He also clashed with Kyle Busch last year at New
Hampshire.
When Montoya left the Formula One ranks, team owner Chip Ganassi hired Montoya
because Ganassi felt his assertive driving would fit NASCAR.
And it has.
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