Weekend That Was (cont'd)

The fact is, the long Cup season might actually be more interesting if there were more road-course races. Wouldn't it be fun to have four road-course races instead of two -- and if one of those was included among the final 10 during the Chase?

Either road-course driving counts for something in determining the season's champion or it doesn't. There really should be no in-between.

As it is now, Montoya's compelling victory made for some great highlights and makes for an entertaining short-term story. And if he rallies to make the Chase it will give him 10 extra points for the victory heading into "the playoffs."

But because there are only two road-course races, it probably will end up meaning not much at all in the big picture.

It won't happen because the schedule already is set and it's far too inflexible, but what NASCAR should do is add a couple of more of these events and make it so Cup teams never feel as if they can afford to replace their regular drivers with "road-course ringers" such as Ron Fellows and Boris Said.

It would force all the drivers to learn how to compete on the road courses as well as the ovals, it would add an interesting aspect if one of the 10 Chase races was at a road course, and maybe some of Montoya's smug ex-Formula One driving buddies (and fans) wouldn't turn their noses so much at the guys who mostly make their million-dollar livings by turning left all afternoon.

Crazy or clairvoyant?

OK, so now Montoya has won a race. Will it produce the windfall of new fans into the sport that so many have predicted?

That remains to be seen, of course, but it looks like it could be a start. In his rookie NASCAR season after switching over from F1, Montoya has now captured victories on road courses both in the Busch Series (Mexico City) and in Cup. And the native of the South American country of Colombia did so at two venues where Hispanic fans were likely to be paying the most attention.

One of Montoya's biggest fans all season has been Humpy Wheeler, president of Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte. Montoya's victory brings to mind the words of Wheeler during the preseason LMS media tour, when Wheeler predicted Montoya success on the track could ultimately mean global expansion of the sport. He pointed out that Montoya's popularity goes beyond the Hispanic community, noting that Montoya has fan clubs as far away as Russia because of his previous success and popularity in the F1 series.

"[If] Montoya does well, people in Europe are going to get interested. Hispanics and the South American community are going to get more interested in it, and then the demand for races will come. And we'll give 'em one," Wheeler said then.

Wheeler also pointed out the need for better television ratings in the New York, Chicago and Los Angeles markets, insisting that Montoya held the key to that, too.

"One of the things that is going to help us -- not will, but can -- is getting better ratings in New York, Chicago and LA," Wheeler added. "In order to do that, we've got to have a reason for Hispanics to like it. I mean, LA's 50 percent Hispanic. I think this is what a successful Montoya would do for us. But he's got to be successful. He can't sit back there and finish 15th every race to get people excited."

Well, now he's finished first. If he does it a couple more times this year and builds on it next, it won't take long to see if Wheeler is as crazy as he sometimes sounds or as clairvoyant as he often claims (remember his once-impressive but overall spotty record in picking winners of the annual All-Star race?). (Continued)