Racers Montoya, Pruett return to defend Rolex 24 (cont'd)

Those two road-course wins fueled Montoya's march to the Raybestos Rookie of the Year title. Now, a year later, his switch to NASCAR looks completely plausible.

And that turnaround in perception can perhaps be traced to the early season boost provided by his sports-car win last year at Daytona.

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Though a Rolex 24 win is a notable and very rare achievement for a sports-car racer, Pruett's 2007 overall victory with Montoya and Duran put him in an elite group of drivers having two or more wins in the race. And like Montoya, Pruett's resume is varied; he has won five other major racing championships along with his 2004 Rolex Series driving crown.

Pruett also has chased success in Cup. A full-time ride in 2000 ended before the season's end. Since, Pruett's NASCAR appearances have been only at road races, such as last year at Mexico City where his primary focus was on the weekend's Rolex Series event.

Saying "thanks" to Pruett for his work ethic and team loyalty, Ganassi and Sabates loaded up a second car for Pruett, again making him and Montoya teammates. Montoya and Pruett ended up battling for the win.

Pruett and Montoya clearly had the field's top cars that day. Leading on a caution-flag restart with eight laps to go, Pruett was on the point with Montoya behind and closing fast as the field hurtled head-long into the first turn.

Montoya, two wheels in the grass, had drawn partly alongside Pruett by the middle of the turn. It was at that point that perceptions about what was transpiring started differing dramatically -- so much so, that NASCAR would later hand down a ruling upholding a move by Montoya that included a bump and resulted in a victory.

Post-race, Pruett expressed his displeasure over the late-race contact. Meantime, Montoya repeatedly apologized in Victory Lane.

Montoya's crew chief, Brad Parrott, was conflicted, saying, "I'm happy we won but I'm upset that we wrecked Scott."

Ganassi, Sabates and team director Mike Hull were left speechless, happy to see one of their guys win, sad to see one of their guys lose.

"What can I say?" Pruett would ask rhetorically at the Rolex Series' next race. "I felt like it was a bad deal for me primarily because I don't like to lose.

"At the end of that race I wasn't remotely interested in being Juan Pablo's teammate; couldn't believe we'd just won the Rolex 24 as teammates and then have that happen in Mexico City.

"But time has a wonderful way of putting things in perspective and I'm no longer even close to being upset with Juan Pablo. I'm a professional; Juan Pablo's a professional. We drive to our maximum physical ability and, when we reach our physical thresholds, give it all we can emotionally."