You’ve Just Witnessed An Instant Change To NASCAR
Sunday, March 4th, 2007 9:53pm CST
By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
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Yes. I said it. You just saw NASCAR change in the blink of an eye. A definable turning point, if you will. When Ganassi first hired Juan Pablo Montoya, it was a move that not only shook up NASCAR, but the world was watching. With Montoya’s first win in a stock car, that same world is again watching closely.
It was a “traditional” stock car win, even. OK, so it was on a road course. However in typical beatin’ and bangin’ fashion, Montoya overcame adversity and a late pit stop incident to beat them to the line. Granted, in the process he dumped his “teammate” Scott Pruitt, but it’s like a friend of mine and I discussed minutes after. Any cop would look at that accident and tell Pruitt he shouldn’t have tried to cut Montoya off. Montoya may have been a little pushy about the issue, but when Pruitt came across his nose, where was Montoya to go? Spotter issue? Blocking issue? Who knows, but Pruitt can’t blame Montoya for it no matter how hard he tries. And he is trying through crying.
So now the former F1 star has put his name in the history books of NASCAR. The second non-American born driver to win ist the top levels of NASCAR, Ron Fellows was the first (eh?). Also as an Indy 500 winner to win at the top levels. And so in just his 7th Busch Series start, Juan Pablo Montoya has found our beloved Victory Lane. Whether he succeeds or fails from this point on, and remember that the Ganassi cars aren’t running like a Roush, Hendrick, or Childress at the moment, is almost irrelevant. He’s left his initial mark, and it’s going to further bring NASCAR to the attention of the world.
Whether it is deserved, or even wanted attention isn’t the point. The point is that it will come. Montoya’s win will help bridge the gap to the world, but it’s a big gap with lots of room to go. There were seats left down there this weekend, but in comparison to what one fish wrap writer mentioned today where they tried to compare the attendance for a Busch race to the California Cup race, it’s apples to oranges. Or, to be more specific, Busch to Cup. For a Busch race it was a decent crowd. Busch just doesn’t fill the seats like Cup does. It’s a fact. It has become better over the past few years, but Busch races may never draw the same crowds as their Cup counterparts. And that’s whether it’s North of, South of, or in between the borders.
Filed Under: Busch Series, Nascar
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I think you’re right on about Pruitt and Montoya…from the video it looked like Pruitt came over once Montoya was there. Juan may have been pushy. He maybe should have waited for another opportunity. The boy wanted back up front…NOW!
How many ‘national’ and ‘open wheel’ drivers are already lining up for NASCAR? A couple already right? It appears that the focus of NASCAR is moving from the ‘young gun’ kids to the ‘international’ driver. There is more money in the international scene than the 20-somethings.
You are right on Luke, yesterday is a milestone in the evolution of NASCAR.
Darren said this on March 5th, 2007 at 5:54 am
I think it will be, most certainly Darren. It might not be evident for a while, but at some point people will look back at this as one of the defining moments of NASCAR on the global stage.
Now that doesn’t mean it will be come a global racing series, and go venue to venue like F1, I mean global as in globally followed. Similar to the NFL, if you will, in terms of global audience.
dear sir,
i think mr montoya is a guy that wants to “get in front” at no cost!!! which, in my opinion has no place in a “team sport”
al
al kennedy said this on March 10th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Well Al, what racer doesn’t want to get to the front? Granted some are willing to take more risk than others to get there.
I think Montoya has the heart, he just needs some more experience in stock cars. It was one of those split second deals and I’m not convinced that had it been someone else in that position that every time it would have come out different.
While NASCAR does have teams, and common courtesies apply, in the closing laps all bets are off. Team orders don’t “exist” in NASCAR, with the exception of wrecking your teammate (intentionally).
Even a week later, I still don’t see it as intentional. Perhaps some more experience would have provided another outcome, but even still Montoya had nowhere to go when Pruitt came across his nose. By that time it was too late to back off further and slamming on the brakes wouldn’t do any good.
The only other option is someone with more stock car experience probably wouldn’t have had the heat up quite as much with 10 laps to go, then again maybe not. Without many real opportunities to pass at most road courses, take what you can get when you can get it.