Earnhardt, Jr and Montoya talk the first 6 races
5 Comments Published April 5th, 2007 in NASCAR News
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Juan Pablo Montoya (No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge), discussed progress and patience, both with the Car of Tomorrow and their own progress following the season’s first six events.
“I think the racing will be good,” Earnhardt said of the May event at Richmond. “A lot of guys are running in the middle, moving the grooves up, so that’s a good sign. It’s a great race track.”
Montoya, the former Formula 1 star who trails Roush Fenway Racing’s David Ragan (No. 6 AAA Ford) by one point in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings, saw yet another unfamiliar track this week. But he seems unfazed.
“I have six months of racing in the stock car against, what, 10, 12, eight years, 16 years?” Montoya said. “So it’s a little bit of a thing that you’ve just got to be very openminded about it.
“I think that helps me a little bit, I’m very open minded about trying stuff, and I think you cannot be scared of trying things here because you might surprise yourself with what works and what doesn’t.”
Earnhardt, the three-time and defending winner of Richmond’s spring event, applauded NASCAR’s recent modifications and decisions following the Car of Tomorrow’s first two events.
“I think that the Car of Tomorrow, we’ll learn a lot of little nuances and things like that within the car and make changes as we go with NASCAR,” Earnhardt said. “They’ve done a great job up to this point. They’re being real lenient in a lot of areas with the car. As we start to understand it, they’ll start to tighten the grip a little bit on the technical inspection and whatnot.”
I don’t know about this Montoya guy. Really, I mean someone tell me what possesed him to come to nascar.
I am actually tired of hearing about Montoya. That’s all they talk about and he really ain’t that good, he needs to learn some English. Yea, and why did he come to NASCAR??
He must be doing something right if you’re hearing so much about him. It’s all about the racing.
Anonymous, he ain’t the only one who needs to learn some English.
I think most people are tired of hearing about Montoya. You hear about him whether he’s in the top ten or 30th. It’s not that he’s doing something right, it’s that he makes a great story for NASCAR and the publicity of NASCAR. Publicity=$$ and that is what NASCAR iis all about. If they can expand the sport to appeal to more people of different cultures, they can make more money. When these people tune into a race, they want to hear about Montoya.
Simply put, when Montoya races, NASCAR makes $$.