JOLIET, Ill. -- It was three years ago when Juan Montoya traveled to Chicagoland Speedway to make the announcement that he was coming to drive in NASCAR's Cup Series.

“

For us right now, my focus is not who is going to be my teammate or whatever. My focus is making the Chase and making sure this team runs good.

”

-- JUAN MONTOYA

"Time really flies. It's actually surprising to me that three years ago I flew up here and did the press conference, and it was the first time I really looked at the cars and everything," Montoya said Thursday before qualifying for this Saturday's LifeLock.com 400 race at the track.

Time isn't the only thing flying in Montoya's world these days. He's been flying around tracks at a pretty good pace, which has him 11th in points with only eight races left before the Chase. The top 12 drivers will compete for the points championship the final 10 races of the season.

So why was Montoya a little on the defensive Thursday at the Chicagoland media center? Because he had to answer questions about why his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing teammate, Martin Truex Jr., made the decision to leave EGR at the end of this season. Truex announced Tuesday that he will be driving next season for Michael Waltrip Racing instead.

In making the announcement, Truex said he made the decision to switch teams because there appears to be fewer questions about the Toyota-backed operation at MWR than there are at Chevrolet-backed EGR. The perception left lingering from that explanation of Truex's departure is that, despite Montoya's significant on-track improvements this season, EGR's future is cloudy at best and shaky at worst.

Montoya and Steve Lauletta, president of EGR, insist that perception couldn't be further from the truth.

Asked how he felt about Truex departing the team, Montoya shrugged his shoulders and replied: "Good for him. If he wanted to go and he thinks he's got more stability at Waltrip's, you know, good for him.

"Ourselves as a team, we have got to look for the good things and the bad things. I think he has too many questions [about EGR] and tough luck. Hopefully he runs better there than he is here. For us right now, my focus is not who is going to be my teammate or whatever. My focus is making the Chase and making sure this team runs good."

Lauletta said the merger that was made between the former Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates last November has been bearing fruit -- even though EGR had to shut down the No. 8 car that was being driven by Aric Almirola earlier this season and Truex is a disappointing 24th in points.

"I think we're in a really good spot," Lauletta said. "Obviously we put the partnership together with DEI and Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates to improve our on-track performance. And we've done that, with Juan being 11th in points and Martin having some really good runs in the No. 1, but with some tough racing luck.

Truex leaves EGR

On June 7 it became official -- Martin Truex Jr. announced he was leaving Earnhardt Ganassi Racing at the end of 2009 to drive for Michael Waltrip Racing

• Complete story
• Menzer: Good move for MWR
• Track Smack: Right decision?

"We knew when we did [the merger] that Martin had one year left on his deal. These are decisions that happen. I think we're just glad now that the announcement has been made, he's committed to doing everything he can to help us the rest of the year. He wants to do what he can to help Juan get in the Chase, and to win races for Bass Pro [primary sponsor of the No. 1 Chevy] and our other sponsors. It's really a matter of just staying focused on what our goal was at the start of this year -- which was to increase our performance, bring these two cars together, and put a car in the Chase."

Lauletta added that with Truex moving on, an opportunity obviously has opened up for someone to take his seat. Rather than dwell on the defection of Truex to MWR, Lauletta said EGR is focusing on using this opportunity to improve. He said they will be looking to get the No. 8 car back on the track some the rest of this season to give Almirola more seat team, and has been assumed that Almirola immediately becomes one of the candidates to replace Truex.

"Chip has been working real hard to see who fits the bill to take Martin's seat. I think that list is not going to be tremendously long, but we feel we have some really, really good options," Lauletta said. "So we're going to move down the road with those and move forward."

Asked if all those candidates are currently in NASCAR, Lauletta added: "I think you can count on the fact they will all be experienced NASCAR drivers, yes."

In other words, don't look for Ganassi to reach into the open-wheel ranks like he has in the past -- with mixed results. He not only brought Montoya into NASCAR, but also Dario Franchitti -- another successful open-wheeler who washed out of NASCAR in barely half a season, in large part because Ganassi ran out of the money to fund Franchitti's team.

Montoya, meanwhile, keeps plowing ahead in his No. 42 Chevy and seems to only be getting better and more consistent week by week. He said he has no doubts EGR is poised to provide the resources he needs to contend for a championship, which is a strong endorsement of the company indeed.

"I think we are better prepared than ever as a team," Montoya said. "Everything is really coming together. Really we have the ball rolling; we have a lot of momentum."