Remorseful Montoya breaks only team rule

MEXICO CITY -- Based on the comments made after Sunday's Telcel-Motorola 200, it didn't sound like Scott Pruett was planning to attend Juan Montoya's victory party.

With an incredible charge through the field despite having to make an extra pit stop to repair his car's overflow tube, Montoya went from 21st to second in less than 20 laps. It was obvious Montoya's No. 42 was the class of the field, and it would only be a matter of time before he passed teammate Pruett for the lead.

Credit: Chris McGrath/Getty Images

Montoya spins Pruett en route to first win

Juan Montoya overcame a fuel problem and a spinning Scott Pruett to win the Telcel-Motorola 200 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City.

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Interviewed atop his pit box, owner Chip Ganassi said, "There's only one team order, and that's 'don't crash into each other.'"

Little did he know at the time how prophetic his words would be.

On Lap 73, Montoya charged up behind Pruett coming down the front straight, and as the two cars entered Turn 1, the Colombian nudged the right rear quarter panel of the No. 41 Dodge, sending the Californian sliding sideways across the track.

With Pruett's car sideways directly in front of him, Montoya got hard on the brakes, then took off through the grass as the rest of the field somehow avoided piling into the fray.

Given the lead, Montoya was never headed, holding off Denny Hamlin in a green-white-checkered finish for the first victory by a Latin American driver in Busch Series history.

It was a replay of the move Montoya made on Pruett early in the race, only this time with disastrous results for Pruett.

"I thought he saw me because he came in wide," Montoya said. "When he came across [the front of my car], I thought, 'Oh, my God,' and there was just no place to go.

"I tried to back off but it was too late. I'm very sorry about Scott."

Pruett, stuck back in 17th place following the incident, wasn't in any mood to accept apologies despite somehow dodging the late-race carnage to finish fifth.

"It was a rookie mistake, let alone [wreck] your teammate," Pruett said. "I can't even put into words. I'm just really unbelievably disappointed.

"He and I have driven together. We talk about it and talk about it and talk about it in our personal team meetings: 'Don't take each other out. You can work it out at the end, the last couple of laps.' And here 15 laps to go, it's just a chicken s--t shot from behind."

Hamlin had a bird's eye view of the incident.

"I wouldn't say it was dirty driving. I just thought it was too aggressive at the time," Hamlin said. "[Montoya's] car was so much faster than everyone else and he was half that much faster over [Pruett]. He was going to pass him. It was a matter of time. I just thought he got a little overzealous right there."

Pruett said there was no need for Montoya to be that aggressive after a restart.

"Next lap, and I wouldn't have fought him for it," he said. "If he had a faster car, we wanted to finish 1-2. That's it.

"[On Lap 3], I gave him room, didn't fight him for it. It's not a big deal. Taking each other out is a big deal."

Montoya was truly remorseful -- and said he would try to call Pruett to explain.

"With Scott, we had great racing all day and for this to happen, it's terrible," Montoya said. "It's horrible because it could have been a 1-2 Ganassi finish."

Ganassi was pleased for Montoya, but wasn't willing to place blame at this point.

"That was a vintage Montoya drive from back there," Ganassi said. "Obviously, the incident down there in Turn 1 with our teammate Scott, I probably need to take a good look at it to see what happened before I make any comment."