Montoya proving win was no fluke with solid practice

LOUDON, N.H. -- Road-course ringer or quick learner of all the ropes?

Juan Montoya hopes to prove it is the latter as the remainder of the Nextel Cup season unfolds, beginning with Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

If qualifying and the final Cup practice session are solid indicators, then Montoya appears poised to have a decent run on the 1.058-mile NHIS oval. One week after capturing his first Cup victory on the Infineon Raceway road course in Sonoma, Calif., Montoya is anxious to carry momentum from that triumph onto a track where the only turns are to the left.

After qualifying fifth a day earlier for Sunday's race, Montoya's No. 42 Dodge was second-fastest during the final practice Saturday, turning a lap of 126.897 mph and making it around the New Hampshire track in a mere 30.015 seconds. Only the No. 48 Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson was faster during Happy Hour, with a lap time of 29.976 seconds and a speed of 127.062.

Rounding out the top five in the final practice session were Jeff Gordon (126.783), Kevin Harvick (126.761) and Clint Bowyer (126.694).

In his rookie Cup season, Montoya was expected to do well on the two road courses on the schedule because of his past experience in the Formula One series. But he has sometimes struggled on the oval tracks that make up most of the Cup schedule, although he does have one top five and two top 10s in the season's first 15 such races.

Montoya and his crew chief, Donnie Wingo, said they expect to be able to build on the success they enjoyed at Sonoma.

"It took a lot of pressure off myself, the team, the whole [Chip Ganassi Racing organization]," Montoya said. "It's a lot more relaxing coming here knowing that you already won a race. That was the big question from everybody, if I could do it. And I did it.

"For us and for my own sake, we're just starting what we want to achieve. That's just showing where the whole organization is going and where we need to be. It really shows we're going in the right direction."

Wingo added: "Anytime you can win one of these things, you feel really special. These things are so hard to win, no matter how you win them. It's been really good since we got here. Everybody's all pumped up."

Saturday's practice only gave them more reason for optimism.

"For the first time here, Juan's been pretty quick in practice," Wingo said. "The car's pretty good."

Montoya said starting from near the front -- he'll be on the inside of the third row, alongside Dale Earnhardt Jr. for Sunday's race -- should give him a strong chance to finish there as well.

"I think it shows where the team wants to go," Montoya said. "We're working pretty hard -- the whole team, the whole organization. It's nice to see us get pumped up about getting good results. I think just shows how hard we've been trying.

"It was tough the last few weeks [before the win at Sonoma]. I think whether we won last week or not, we were making progress. It really shows the team is heading in the right direction; we're getting more competitive every week. As time goes by we're just going to get better. I think it's good to see."

Rounding out the top ten in Happy Hour on Saturday were Ryan Newman (126.505), Tony Stewart (126.505), pole-sitter Dave Blaney (126.479), Jeff Burton (126.454) and Martin Truex Jr. (126.446).

Wingo said Montoya's win at Sonoma not only helped the confidence of their No. 42 Dodge team, but that of every race team at Chip Ganassi Racing.

"It doesn't just go to one race team; it goes through the entire organization -- all three teams and the Busch teams," Wingo said. "It gives everybody an outlook that we can do it. We've seen it done. We can do it.

"We've still got to get more consistent. We've got to consistently run more in the top 10, then more in the top five. Then you put yourself in position to win races like we did last week."