Expectations for Montoya higher in second Cup year

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- His NASCAR education began not with 42 other cars on the racetrack and thousands of people in the grandstands, but on barren test ovals with only his team members in attendance. They'd change the track bar, send him out, bring him in, and change the track bar again. They'd do the same thing with the sway bar, with the A-frame, with the steering box, making incremental adjustments over and over so Juan Montoya could learn how they affected the feel of the car.

Donnie Wingo

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And over time, they saw results. When he first made the transition from Formula One, Montoya needed the car to be tight -- which left it more stable, but too slow. Gradually they loosened it up, to the point where he had the car as loose as he could drive it during a fall test at Atlanta. Gradually the former Indianapolis 500 champion began to learn how to communicate to his crew what the car needed. And gradually Montoya grew more comfortable, to the point where he won one Cup event last season and enters this year with his sights set on the Chase.

"I think making the Chase is something we can definitely do. We've been so close as a team over the last four years. We were within like 15 points two times," said crew chief Donnie Wingo, referring to near misses by Jamie McMurray, a former driver of his Texaco-backed car. "It's frustrating when you get that close. I think this year we can do it. I think we've got the tools, I think we definitely have the driver, I think we have the team to do it."

That's quite a contrast to this time last season, when the brass at Chip Ganassi Racing was careful not to place any expectations on a driver who had world-class talent but virtually no experience in full-bodied racecars. Now, there is a clear baseline -- last year's 20th-place points finish, which included a Cup victory on the road course at Sonoma, a runner-up finish at Indianapolis, and a victory in a then-Busch event on the road course in Mexico City. The goals now are a little more tangible, a little easier to distill. But Montoya also realizes he's still learning, and isn't far removed in time from that neophyte who was taught car setup step by painstaking step.

"Do we think we can get in the Chase? Yeah. Do we think we can have a chance at winning a race on an oval? Yeah. Do we think we can win again on a road course? Probably. But there are so many things that can happen. Somebody can have better fuel mileage than you, so they win on a road course. Or, you come into the pits, and it's the wrong call. Any given day, there are four to five guys who can win the race," said Montoya, participating in this week's opening session of Sprint Cup testing at Daytona International Speedway. (Continued)