No restrictions for Montoya in second-place 'Dega run (cont'd)

"I was put in bad positions -- [Montoya] left me hangin' when I pushed him so I couldn't do much," Stremme said. "The 55 [Michael Waltrip] was blowing up and then they started wreckin' and I ended up with nowhere to go. [Jamie McMurray] blew a tire and it wrecked a bunch of us, so not much we could do."

Montoya says he feels bad Stremme was collected in that final crash, but added the separation between the two was just a racing thing.

"I was a couple places behind [Stremme] on the restart, the 24 [Jeff Gordon] came with a hell of a run. They split one way and then the other and I tried to block them," Montoya said. "I slowed them down a little bit and got a bit of momentum and when they all came down I had a hole, I went down and it worked.

"It's just one of those things that is pure luck. I picked the right lane and it worked out. It's frustrating to see the 40 get a bad result after how good they ran all day."

Montoya earned his second-place finish with a new crew chief for the first time in his Cup Series career. Two weeks ago, Chip Ganassi swapped chiefs for the Nos. 41 and 42 teams, putting Jimmy Elledge with Montoya and moving Donnie Wingo to Sorenson.

The swap didn't have much to do with the finish, according to Montoya, who says more time is needed before they can assess the change.

"I think here the difference between Donnie and Jimmy -- I don't think there's any difference," Montoya said. "We were always in the right place at the right time [Sunday], and I don't think Donnie would have done anything different.

"We had good calls all day and I think we need to get more into the season and see what happens."

The finish moves Montoya into the top 12 in points and puts an end to what some were calling a slump, although Montoya says if you compare this season to last, it shows tremendous improvement and gives the 42 team hope heading into May.

"It's funny to say 'struggling' because you look at last year and the average finish is a lot better," Montoya said. "Last year we would have a second-place here and a fifth-place there and the rest was 20th place. Now we are running 15th every week, but we never really had a result like [Sunday].

"I think it really motivates everybody back in Charlotte, and hopefully it's time that we are headed in the right direction."