Juan Pablo Montoya
NNCS Fontana Advance
Race:
Sharp Aquos 500 on Sunday, September 2
Track:
California Speedway (2.0-mile oval)
Location:
Fontana, Calif.
Juan Pablo Montoya and the No. 42 Wrigley’s Big Red Dodge Team Facts:
Seeing Red: Juan Pablo Montoya’s No. 42 Dodge Charger will carry the colors of Wrigley’s Big Red for the final time this season at California Speedway. The 500-mile race in Fontana is the third time Montoya’s Cup car has carried the Big Red logo, he previously ran this paint scheme at Chicagoland and Watkins Glen.
Standings: Montoya and the No. 42 team moved up to 18th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings following their 17th-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway passing Jamie McMurray.
Back to the Golden State: This is Montoya’s second trip back to California in a stock car. He started ninth in his first NEXTEL Cup race and finished 26th after falling a lap down due to an untimely caution. Montoya has also competed in two CART events at the track, including his championship clinching fourth-place finish in 1999 with Chip Ganassi Racing. Montoya also raced in the 2000 series finale where he started fifth, but settled for a 10-place finish after a mechanical failure ended his day early.
Sweet Ride: Wrigley’s Racing is preparing to award four lucky winners a Dodge SRT8 each via the Wrigley’s Sweetest Ride Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes was launched May 1 and will run through October 1. In addition to the four grand prize winners, eligible participants can instantly win one of 2,500 collectible prizes. To learn more about the Wrigley’s Sweetest Ride Sweepstakes go to www.wrigleysracing.com.
Rookie Race: Montoya increased his lead in the Raybestos® Rookie standings over David Ragan after finishing 17th last weekend. He currently has a 25-point advantage (216-191) over the driver of the No. 6 car. Last weekend Montoya earned rookie of the race honors for the 11th time this season.
Back in Primetime: Wednesday evening is the third of five episodes of NASCAR in Primetime on ABC featuring Montoya and his wife Connie Montoya. This episode takes a look at the action at Talladega Superspeedway, the longest oval on the NASCAR circuit. The program looks into the lives of several drivers including Montoya, veteran Jeff Burton and Johnny Sauter.
Chassis: Crew Chief Donnie Wingo and the No. 42 team are bringing chassis #707 to California Speedway this weekend, the same chassis they finished second with at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. This will be the fifth race for chassis #707 this season. Montoya drove this car in the 600-mile race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May where he started from the 20th position and finished 28th after being involved in a multi-car incident, at Michigan International Speedway in June where he finished 43rd, at Indianapolis and most recently at Pocono Raceway where he finished 16th.
Tab’s Blog: “The night race at Bristol is by far my favorite race of the year. The sheer excitement is unbelievable when the hot sun of the day descends behind the grandstands and the lights come on, a whole different world comes to life. The racing can be super intense at times and the new surface would make for side-by-side racing. With a really good practice session and a great second-place qualifying effort I was looking forward to the race Saturday night.” Read all of spotter Tab Boyd’s exclusive blog, and comments from fans around the globe at http://www.texacohavoline42.com/news/blog/.
All Access: Montoya and the No. 42 team will be one of the featured teams on DIRECTV’s NASCAR Hotpass for the NEXTEL Cup race in California Speedway. The Hotpass subscription allows fans to follow Montoya and the team throughout the entire race with in-depth reporting, real time statistics and live race audio. Montoya will be featured on channel 797 on Sunday.
In addition, Montoya and the team will also be featured on Sirius Satellite Radio’s Driver2Crew Chatter. Driver2Crew Chatter puts fans in the car and in the pits. Fans can listen to Montoya’s radio communication with Crew Chief Wingo, Spotter Boyd and the rest of the team.
