Juan Pablo Montoya and the No. 42 Target team were able to maintain a spot
in the top-12 of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings (NSCS) after finishing 25th in Saturday night’s Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Montoya ran in the top-10 for the entire race before a late-race flat tire relegated him to the 25th-placefinish.
Montoya was once again fast all weekend and qualified his No. 42 Target Chevrolet 11th. From the drop of the green flag through the first 450 of 500 laps the Target Chevrolet could not have been better. Montoya was pleased with the handling from the start as he quickly moved into the top-10 and would stay there most of the race often popping into the top-five.
From the start, Crew Chief Brian Pattie and Montoya talked of maintaining position, running consistently and saving the brakes in order to make a late race run toward the front. All of that played out perfectly as Montoya was set to make a run for the front in the last 50 laps. Montoya moved up to second place when a slight rain moved in which brought out the caution with about 40 laps to go. On the restart Montoya had difficulty handling the car and quickly dropped to eighth when another caution came out. The culprit was quickly discovered on the subsequent restart, as Montoya radioed that he had a right rear tire going down. Montoya was forced to come back down pit road to change the tire, putting him two laps down. The No. 42 Target Team, poised for a great finish, ended their night in disappointment.
The “Race for the Chase” continues to tighten, as Montoya now sits in ninth position in the NSCS point standings. He is now 64 points in front of 13th position and just 20 points out of seventh. Just 89 points separates 7th through 14th position in the standings.