Raines critical of Montoya after Martinsville incident

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Depending on the point of view, driver Juan Montoya was either brilliant or reckless Sunday during the Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Or maybe he was some of both.

Lap-by-Lap

For every move Jeff Gordon made, Jimmie Johnson countered in a thrilling finish at Martinsville. But before that, the first 499 laps had to play out.

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Tony Raines was running ninth and Montoya 10th on Lap 375 when Montoya hit Raines from behind and spun out the No. 96 Chevy that Raines was driving. That infuriated Raines, who came on his team radio and claimed he was "just trying to race the stupid," um, son of a gun. Well, that's not exactly what he said, but you get the idea.

After Raines ended up finishing 20th, he wasn't any happier about what had transpired.

"I don't know how he's thinking, or what his thinking is," Raines said. "[Montoya's supporters] are always going to think he's the greatest thing since sliced bread and I ain't s---, but I don't come out here to wreck people. I didn't wreck him; he shouldn't have wrecked me."

Montoya never ran better than 10th and ended up finishing 16th. That was a strong enough finish to impress many, including Felix Sabates, the minority owner at Chip Ganassi Racing that fields Montoya's No. 42 Dodge.

Sabates said that he remembers folks predicting that Montoya would struggle badly on Nextel Cup short tracks like Martinsville. Although a highly accomplished driver in other racing series, including Formula One, this is Montoya's first full-time season in NASCAR.

"He amazed the heck out of me, I'm telling you," Sabates said. "I think if we could have gotten him to the front and gotten some track position, he had a top-10 car. The problem was we never got track position. We were always stuck in the back of the pack. But he did a heck of a job. ... He surprised me, because this is a hard place to race."

Montoya was running 11th when a 33-minute rain delay appeared to rob him of some momentum. (Continued)