Montoya and Pattie win first Cup Series race together
Juan Montoya proved winning is the best medicine when he and Brian Pattie, rumoured only days ago to be on the verge of parting ways, celebrated their first Cup Series win together at Watkins Glen on Sunday.
Montoya’s win had been long overdue and his relationship with Pattie had been on the rocks since Pattie’s call in the pit lanes cost Montoya a potential win at Pocono last weekend. Montoya was in a position to challenge for victory and pitted for a tire change. But instead of taking two it was Pattie’s call to take all four tires off, which turned out to be Montoya’s undoing.
This was the second time that Pattie made a four-tire call that cost Montoya the race. The first time was two weeks ago at Indianapolis, and Montoya had nothing but harsh words for his crew chief which he relayed over the radio. Team owner Chip Ganassi stepped in before Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips to make sure the team smoothed over their issues before the race.
The pep-talk proved to be a good idea as the team worked flawlessly during the 90-lap race. “We had a really good talk with Chip and all the boys,” Montoya said after the race. “It was all about making sure everybody is on the same page, everybody has to do their job, and we came out [Sunday] and everybody executed.”
In the final 16 laps the race came down to a fight between Montoya, Marcos Ambrose and Kurt Busch. Finally Montoya was able to break away for his first win in 113 races since he won the Sonoma race in June 2007. The victory was the third this season for his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team after Jamie McMurray won the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400.
“It's about time," Montoya said. "We've lost a lot of them, gave away a lot of them. It gets frustrating, everybody fighting."
Pattie, who earned his first career win on Sunday, is hopeful that the victory will patch up his relationship with Montoya, "It's huge," a teary eyed Pattie said. "I still want to win on an oval. He wants to prove his point. The Brickyard was my fault. Hope this makes up for it. Trophies mean a lot. It's pretty cool."
Montoya lead 74 laps and crossed the finish line 4.735 second before Busch. Ambrose came in third with A.J. Allmendinger taking fourth place and Carl Edwards rounding out the top five. This was Edwards sixth consecutive top 10 finish.
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