Juan Pablo Montoya Advance
Texas Motor Speedway – Samsung 500
Race:
Samsung 500, Sunday, April 15
Track:
Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Location:
Fort Worth, Texas
Juan Pablo Montoya and the No. 42 Texaco Havoline Dodge Team Facts:
Texas: Juan Pablo Montoya finished 28th in his second-career NASCAR start in the NASCAR Busch Series Race at Texas Motor Speedway in 2006. Montoya started the race 10th, but made an unscheduled pit stop on lap 42 when his Dodge Charger made contact with the outside wall and he was unable to make up the laps. This will be Montoya’s first trip back to a track he competed on last season in a stock car.
Standings: Montoya and the Texaco/Havoline team finished 16th in Martinsville two weeks ago. Montoya and team moved up three spots in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup standings to 16th, and now sit just 62 points out of the top 10.
Rookie Status: Montoya is now second in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Raybestos Rookie standings. He led the standings by one point last week before Martinsville, and now sits second, just one point behind David Ragan. Montoya also took last weekend off from the Busch Series race and is four points out of the lead in the Busch Series Rookie standings heading into the Busch race in Texas.
All Access: Montoya and the Texaco/Havoline team will be one of the featured teams on DIRECTV’s NASCAR Hotpass for the NEXTEL Cup race at Texas. The Hotpass subscription allows fans to follow Montoya and the team throughout the entire 500-mile race with in-depth reporting, real time statistics and live race audio. The Texaco/Havoline team will be featured on channel 797 on Sunday.
It takes one to know Juan: Did you know Montoya has met both the King of Spain Juan Carlos and Prince Rainier of Monaco? In fact, Montoya was the last driver to receive the Monaco Grand Prix trophy from Prince Rainier before his passing in 2005.
Chassis: Crew chief Donnie Wingo and the Texaco/Havoline team have chosen chassis #706 for the 334-lap race at Texas Motor Speedway. Montoya piloted this chassis to his first top-five finish in the NEXTEL Cup Series earlier this season at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Montoya started 16th at Atlanta en route to a fifth-place finish.
Road Trip: Texaco/Havoline has just made traveling to the race track easier for race fans. Fans can go to www.texacohavoline42.com, click on the link for the road trip and enter their starting location and race destination. In addition to receiving the best route to the track, fans will also get directions to the nearest Xpress Lube and Texaco service stations to make planning their trip to see Montoya easier.
Star in the Sky: Montoya’s Cup and Busch spotter, Tab Boyd, took the off-weekend to do a little racing of his own. Boyd competed at Hickory Motor Speedway in the Pass South Super Late Model Race last Saturday night. Boyd started 20th and finished 15th in the 150-lap feature event. He also provides an exclusive blog at http://www.texacohavoline42.com/news/blog/.
