CONCORD, N.C. -- Felix Sabates was sitting at a poker table on Wednesday night, trying to contribute some of his money to Make-A-Wish Foundation, when his cell phone rang.

He glanced down and saw that it was Juan Montoya calling.

"So I get up and take the call," said Sabates, minority owner of the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing organization that fields the car Montoya drives in the Sprint Cup Series. "And he says, 'I need your help.' I say, `What for?' And he says, 'I'm in jail.'

“

Listen, if he wins a couple of races and goes to Homestead with a chance of winning a championship, you're going to have 10,000 Latinos there -- because I'm going to pick up every one of them myself. I'll bring the buses.

”

-- FELIX SABATES

So I run outside and I'm like, 'What'd you do? What'd you do?' And he's like, 'I need $5,000.' I said, 'I can get you the money right now. What jail are you at?' And he started laughing and said, 'NASCAR jail.' It was for some charity. He pulled my ying-yang -- and when I see him, I going to choke him because I really believed him."

Despite the gag, which Montoya shrugged off with a smile when asked about it, Sabates and others have witnessed a new level of maturity to Montoya's racing these days. For that, he cited the first race in the Chase for the Sprint Cup at New Hampshire -- when Montoya backed out of a potential late-race incident with eventual winner Mark Martin when they were battling for the lead, but at least brought his No. 42 Chevrolet home safely in third place.

That was the first of four consecutive finishes of fourth or better in the first four Chase races for Montoya. So despite having yet to win a race this season, Montoya currently sits third in the points standings heading into this Saturday night's NASCAR Banking 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway -- only 58 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson and a mere 46 behind Martin in second.

"Juan showed me a lot of restraint and that he's grown up the other day when he could have taken Mark Martin out -- because Mark came down on him, and no one would have blamed him. But he let off and let him go," Sabates said. "Mark won the race and we finished [third], but that shows you Montoya has really grown.

"Jeff Gordon wouldn't have done that. He would've wrecked him. Remember that."

Asked if Montoya would have taken Martin out in a similar situation two years ago, after Montoya had first made the transition from IndyCar and Formula One racing to stock cars, and Sabates released a hearty laugh.

"Hell, yeah, he would have done it two years ago. But it wasn't taking him out. Juan had a right to the track and [Martin] came down on him, so Juan had to let out of the gas," Sabates said.

"Two years ago, he would have stayed on the gas. Maybe because he didn't know any better then, either."

Sabates' point is that Montoya isn't currently third in the points standings by accident. He has learned to restrain himself at times while still maintaining an aggressive driving style that has long been admired by many of his fellow competitors.

"I was talking to Ryan [Newman] and he said he used to be afraid to run around him, but now he'll run around him any time," Sabates said. "The same way with Jeff Gordon. Jeff will tell you that Montoya is not a dirty driver, he's just aggressive. You've got some guys who are dirty out there. He's not a dirty driver; he's an aggressive driver who is managing his abilities.

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"He knows how good he can be. But if his car is no good, he'll get out of the way. He'll go back to sixth or seventh or eighth and hang out. But if his car is good, he'll race 'em. That's the way it should be."

Gordon, in fact, more than backed up Sabates on this point.

"I just always looked at Juan as one of the most incredible drivers out there," Gordon said. "I knew he was going to have an uphill battle [coming into NASCAR]. When you've been driving the open-wheel type cars that he had been for that long, it's a tough transition to get a feel for these cars, learn the tracks, transition in to different people, a new team. It is like starting your career over -- but he has the talent, so I knew it would only be a matter of time.

"I didn't know how much time -- and some of that had to do with the team providing him the resources and equipment. Just seeing some of the things early on, he certainly had a lot to get used to with these bigger, heavier cars. Just how deep you drive in the corner, how aggressive he was on the restarts, and learning the aerodynamics of the car around the other cars. All the typical things you see so many go through, but I think maybe even a little bit more under a microscope for him because of who he is and what he has accomplished in other forms of racing."

Now nearing the end of his third full season in NASCAR, Montoya insisted he still has much to learn.

"I still feel like I don't know [the cars] completely," Montoya said. "I still feel there is a lot I need to improve. We are getting better. We understand the car better. But I think during the race, I still feel like I need to do a better job understanding what needs to be done to make it better."

Sabates admitted that he's surprised Montoya hasn't won as yet on an oval track in NASCAR. Montoya was in the lead and seemingly in command at Indianapolis in July when a speeding penalty on pit road cost him dearly.

"I'm very surprised. On the other hand, I sit on the tool box every race, and he could have won some races," Sabates said. "He's definitely capable of winning races, the way he has run.

"We wanted to make the Chase, and we were very conservative -- especially after Indianapolis. You know, our plan was simple: you win at Indianapolis, you can make a big enough jump in the points that you can take some chances. Well, we ended up [11th] at Indianapolis and [a couple weeks later] at Bristol and Michigan we had blowouts. So we went conservative.

"So I'm surprised but I'm not surprised. I think we've held him back."

Asked if the first time Montoya wins on an oval, it could serve as a breakthrough that propels him to multiple wins, Sabates again laughed heartily and replied: "Sure. It's like sex. The more you do it, the more you like it."

If Montoya does win soon and puts himself in even greater position to challenge for the championship heading into the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway Nov. 22, Sabates is ready to gear up the Hispanic support for the Colombian native.

"Listen, if he wins a couple of races and goes to Homestead with a chance of winning a championship, you're going to have 10,000 Latinos there -- because I'm going to pick up every one of them myself. I'll bring the buses," Sabates said.