Where's Juan? Bristol

By NASCAR.COM
August 24, 2007
12:55 PM EDT

type size: + -

Juan Pablo Montoya recovered well in the first half of the Michigan race on Tuesday after dropping to last due to a spin on Lap 15. He then struggled with a loose car later and went a lap down on the leader, dropping down the order to eventually finish 26th, just ahead of Jeff Gordon.

"We were lucky there," Montoya said about his spin. "They just came down and hit us and we spun. Luckily we didn't hit anything.

"Then we came back, we had a strong car, and one of the long runs we came in and changed tires and they were junk, I guess. The balance went and we lost over half a second a lap."

Montoya hopes his ability to turn a bad day into a decent run carries over to Bristol on Saturday night for the Sharpie 500.

In his first visit to the short track, Montoya started 36th and finished 32nd, seven laps down when all the beating and banging settled.

Montoya hasn't done too bad on the short tracks this year. His average finish is 24.7, which includes a 16th-place finish at Martinsville. But as everyone knows, flat Martinsville is nothing like the high banks of Bristol.

Juan Montoya

2007 Nextel Cup Series

Race	Track	Start	Finish	Result	Point Standings

1	Daytona	36	19	Running	18
2	California	9	26	Running	20
3	Las Vegas	4	22	Running	22
4	Atlanta	16	5	Running	15
5	Bristol	36	32	Running	19
6	Martinsville	23	16	Running	16
7	Texas	16	8	Running	13
8	Phoenix	36	33	Running	16
9	Talladega	24	31	Running	19
10	Richmond	16	26	Running	21
11	Darlington	41	23	Running	21
12	Charlotte	20	28	Running	22
13	Dover	16	31	Running	22
14	Pocono	38	20	Running	21
15	Michigan	33	43	Crash	23
16	Sonoma	32	1	Running	21
17	New Hampshire	5	19	Running	19
18	Daytona	20	32	Running	21
19	Chicagoland	30	15	Running	20
20	Indianapolis	2	2	Running	18
21	Pocono	9	16	Running	18
22	Watkins Glen	18	39	Crash	19
23	Michigan	26	26	Running	19
Avg.		22.0	22.3