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Where are they now? Juan Pablo Montoya keeps his desire for racing competitively
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Jerry Bonkowski NASCAR.com March 11, 2021 at 9:40 AMA look of shock comes across Juan Pablo Montoya’s face when he is reminded it has been seven years since he last raced in NASCAR.
“That’s crazy, it’s been that much already?” Montoya said with a laugh in a recent interview with NASCAR.com. “When you look back at it, you go, ‘Oh, my God, it’s crazy that it was that long ago. It’s the same thing with F1, which is worse because you can add another (six years before that).
People still remember, people still talk about it (his time in NASCAR). It’s good.”
RELATED: Career stats
From 2006 through 2014, Montoya was one of the bigger stars in NASCAR, known for his fiery competitiveness, tenacity, and being one of the toughest drivers to pass on a race track.
But he was also unconventional. He didn’t fit the typical mold of a NASCAR driver.
Whereas most of his peers grew up racing stock cars,
Montoya was already a world-class driver — a bonafide international celebrity — when he came to NASCAR.
He won the CART championship as a rookie in 1999. He won the Indianapolis 500 the following year (and again 15 years later, one year removed from his last go-round on the NASCAR circuit).
After conquering CART, he moved to Formula One from 2001 through 2006, earning seven wins and twice finishing third in the championship battle.
He struggled in his final F1 season (2006), yet still finished
eighth in the standings for Team McLaren despite competing in only 10 of 18 races.
It was time for a new challenge for the Colombian native, and NASCAR beckoned. He was one of several international drivers of that era who also emigrated to America’s premier racing series, including Scotsman Dario Franchitti and Canadians Jacques Villeneuve and Patrick Carpentier. But while the others came and went, Montoya was the only one who had staying power.
Montoya came to NASCAR to race for Chip Ganassi Racing. His first full season, 2007, was also his breakthrough season, earning an Xfinity Series win at Mexico City in early March and following that up three and a half months later with his first Cup Series triumph at Sonoma Raceway.
That his first two NASCAR wins came on road courses was not surprising due to his prior road racing proficiency — five of his 10 wins in CART and all seven of his wins in F1 were on road courses.
While Montoya was always a formidable opponent in the Cup Series, his aggressive style at times proved his undoing. Of the 28 DNFs he recorded in his 255 Cup starts, 24 of those were due to crashes — although to be fair, not all were his fault.
Montoya’s best season statistically was 2009. While he did not reach Victory Lane, he had a career-best seven top-five and 18 top-10 finishes in 36 starts.
It was also the only season he made the NASCAR Playoffs, finishing a career-best eighth.
“You know, I really enjoyed NASCAR, and when I worked with Brian Pattie (Montoya’s crew chief from 2008-2011), it was very good,” Montoya said. “We had a really good relationship and we made a lot of good things.
“We worked really well together, we understood each other … we had a shot at the championship and everything (which) not a lot of people do. We did good with what we had.”
Jason Smith | Getty ImagesMontoya would earn one more Cup win for Ganassi in 2010 — also on a road course (Watkins Glen) — before eventually parting ways after the 2013 season. He’d return to his open-wheel roots with Team Penske’s IndyCar program from 2014 through 2016, earning five wins in that period.
He also competed in two final Cup races for Penske in 2014.
“I had a few opportunities to go to different teams, but I felt loyalty to Chip (Ganassi) was more important,” Montoya said. “In hindsight, if I wanted to stay in NASCAR, I should have made the move. But for me, I felt loyalty was more important.”
Following his return to IndyCar, Montoya shifted to the IMSA Series for Penske, including winning the Prototype championship and three races in 2019 with teammate Dane Cameron.
These days, the 45-year-old Montoya remains busy and competitive, racing in three different series:
* Scheduled to drive seven races for DragonSpeed Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
* Slated for at least three IMSA Series races for Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian, including January’s Rolex 24 Hours (finished fourth), next Sunday at Sebring and the season-ending event in Atlanta at Petit Le Mans.
* In a one-off start for Arrow McLaren SP, he returns to the Indianapolis 500 for the first time since 2017, seeking his third career win in The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.