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Op-Ed: Montoya's "Rookie" Mistake?
By Text: Joel Cameron
Mar 11, 2007, 21:44

Editors Note: Joel Cameron will be a frequent contributer to SpeedArena in the future. Check back with us every few weeks to see some of Joel's opinions on what's hot in the world of motorsports. Feel free to leave your comments about Joel's opinions in our forums.

Juan Pablo Montoya may be a rookie in the NASCAR Busch Series but, as he proved in his first win in the series, he is not a beginner when is comes to racing. Montoya, who joined the Chip Ganassi Racing team this season after spending the previous five seasons in Formula One, took the checkered flag at the Telcel-Motorola Mexico 200 despite a mid-race mix-up in the pits that forced him to make an additional stop.

Nevertheless, even this unscheduled stop couldn’t keep Montoya from the front as he displayed his superior road racing skills by charging from twenty-first place to second in less than 20 laps. His car may not have been the Team McLaren Mercedes he drove to three Formula One wins last season, but watching Montoya carve through the field of competitors accustomed to the oval tracks that dominate the NASCAR schedule, the fans at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriquez were reminded of the track’s Formula One heritage.

But it was the action on Lap 73 that has race fans talking and teammate Scott Pruett shaking his head in frustration. As Pruett approached turn one, Montoya, gaining quickly and attempting to pass on the inside of the corner, clipped his teammate’s right rear fender, sending Pruett into a spin. Pruett, characterizing the attempted pass as a, “rookie mistake” in a post race interview, was obviously upset and Montoya was apologetic calling the incident, “horrible”.

I have to disagree with both men. First, on Lap 3 Montoya attempted and made a clean pass on Pruett in the same corner where the accident later occurred. Apparently realizing that Montoya was faster, Pruett gave him room to make this early race pass. So the failed attempt was the second time that Montoya had tried to pass his teammate by using the same move to the inside. But, in this later pass attempt, either Pruett somehow didn’t know that the number 42 Dodge was on his bumper or he was trying to block the clearly faster car of his teammate from taking the lead. In either case, it seems clear that Montoya expected Pruett to give way to the inevitable pass as he had earlier on in the race, especially because, as Team Owner Chip Ganassi commented, “There‘s only one team order, and that’s ‘don‘t crash into each other.’”

Second, watching a replay of the incident, it occurs to me that Montoya could have made the pass stick if he had continued on his line into the corner instead of braking to avoid Pruett’s car. Granted, there most likely would have been contact. Pruett was apparently not about to give up the lead without a fight but if he expected to keep the faster Montoya behind him, he should not have swung wide in the corner. As far as I’m concerned, Montoya, seeing an opportunity to pass, made an aggressive move to the inside that would have stuck if he had not tried to avoid contact. It was Pruett that made the mistake. With a faster car behind you, You cannot expect to swing wide in a corner, turn in late and avoid contact, much less maintain your position.

If Montoya made a mistake it was in treating his stouter stock car as if it was a more fragile and expensive Formula One version that he is accustomed to driving. The door-to-door contact that most likely would have occured if Montoya had driven alongside Pruett would certainly have been the kind of impact that could ruin an open wheel car but it is par for the course in the destruction derby-like world of NASCAR. What would have ultimately happened in this instance nobody knows but, as Pruett didn’t turn in until after he saw Montoya braking and giving way, I suspect he would have stayed wide, avoided the contact, and let the rookie take the lead. In any case, it is obvious that Juan Pablo Montoya is not the typical rookie and, although it might take him a while to get the hang of methodically turning left around NASCAR’s oval circuits, it is clear that he will be a driver to watch in the two remaining road races of the season.

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