The 2009 Chase for the Sprint Cup proved what a dichotomy Juan Montoya's season was. But it also firmly established that Montoya had arrived as a legitimate championship contender.

After dropping statistically for two seasons and doubling his DNFs, Montoya's 2009 was a career year.

“

We set our goals out to sit on poles, win races and be in the Chase. It's been a great year.

”

JUAN MONTOYA

Forming Earnhardt Ganassi Racing by merging Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and Dale Earnhardt Inc. was balanced by Montoya's teaming with crew chief Brian Pattie.

The stunning results included Montoya's first two career poles and he more than doubled his previous season-highs in top-five (seven, up from three) and top-10 (18, up from six) finishes.

"I learned to race a little smarter, but speed-wise I don't think it changed a lot," Montoya said. "The cars are a lot better, the communication with Brian is a lot better and we have a lot of team stability. That really plays into performance."

Most significantly, he had zero DNFs after logging 13 his first two seasons.

"When you run top-five, you can ride and pace yourself," Montoya said. "You can run hard but a lot smarter when you got good race cars. When you do that, you actually run faster.

"The key now is to try to keep that momentum going for next year. If we can, we'll be looking pretty decent. My goal next year is to be able to match this year's performance. Of course, you want more. But if we can create stability on the team good enough to be able to repeat our performance, I'll be more than happy.

"I want to win races and everything, but the way we ran over the past few years against this year, it's been incredible."

Montoya led 388 laps compared to 428 in two previous seasons. But in the two races he led the most laps, Indianapolis and the Chase opener at New Hampshire, Montoya didn't win.

"It's kind of weird and frustrating that you're so close to [winning], so close for championships and things," Montoya said. "In a way, it's great. But at the same time, the closer you get you notice how much more work you still got to do to make it happen."

Didn't get much better than this

Montoya's season high came when he opened his and Ganassi's first Chase with four consecutive top-five finishes, something never done. In five of his first nine Chase races he finished third or fourth, but he never won.

"We did take it an extra step," Montoya said. "But to be where we need to be, we needed to put it away. That's what it takes to win."

The disappointment still lingers

The season's low came via accidents in four Chase races: Charlotte, Talladega, Texas and Homestead.

"No matter what happened it's hard to argue that it wasn't a successful year," Montoya said. "We set our goals out to sit on poles, win races and be in the Chase. It's been a great year. It's been a lot of fun. It's been good."