Where's Juan? Phoenix

Juan Montoya's second top-10 finish of the season has bumped him to the edge of being in the highly regarded top 12 in the Nextel Cup Standings, an expectation nobody placed on the rookie.

Despite a mid-race run-in with Tony Stewart last week, Montoya kept his No. 42 Dodge on rails and brought home an eighth-place finish at Texas. The finish jumped him up three spots to 13th in the standings, just 12 points behind teammate David Stremme.

After a one-week stop in the traditional racecar, it's back to the Car of Tomorrow this week at Phoenix. In two COT races this year, Montoya finished 32nd at Bristol and 16th at Martinsville, both short tracks. Now he turns to the mile track at PIR, where he'll start 36th.

The big news is the COT at a larger track, but many wanted to know if Montoya has spoken to Stewart after their Texas altercation.

"Yeah, we're cool," Montoya said. "The thing is the press makes a fuss out of everything and we don't. He's OK with it. I'm OK with it."

Montoya can be heard on Sirius Speedway (3-7 p.m. ET Mondays) with Dave Moody on Sirius channel 128, and NASCAR.COM will track Montoya's first full Cup season:

• Last Week: Texas
• Next Week: Talladega