Miami's most popular driver not who you think (cont'd)

"It's great that the Latin community pays attention to what I'm doing," Montoya said. "Internationally, they're paying attention to NASCAR now because a lot of things I've done. I didn't come to NASCAR to create that. I came to NASCAR because I wanted to race in NASCAR. It was a personal thing. It still is. Is it a pressure thing? No. It's great that they pay attention. It's like when I came to NASCAR, I'll give an example, Colombia, they paid a little bit of attention, the results were not there, people stopped paying attention. Now everybody wants to come here. Everybody wants to watch the races. Everybody talks about it. It is what it is. They always like when we do well."

Montoya, though, does his part. At the end of his weekly media conference -- mandated of all drivers in the top 12 -- Montoya regularly answers questions in his native tongue. Once he appeared on a Cup conference call, and a Miami-based Colombian radio station phoned in. Because of time constraints, only one question was allowed. So Montoya called them back afterward to continue the interview.

"While he says he's reluctant to do it, once he's is on the radio or on with TV stations, he almost gets sucked into it a little bit," Gray said. "I think he enjoys the enthusiasm that the communities feel. So I think maybe what he's saying to the press is one thing, I think what he's actually doing out there is another thing."

With his Latin heritage and Miami address, Montoya has become a focus of the Homestead track's marketing initiatives. The speedway first unveiled a "Montoya package" for $142 -- the latter two digits corresponding with the driver's car number -- that included a $100 race ticket, a free pre-race pit pass, and a $42 donation to Montoya's Formula Smiles foundation, which constructs sports facilities for children in Colombia. Then during the Chase, the track offered a $100 ticket for $42 each Monday after Montoya finished in the top 10, which has been six times thus far. Those buyers were also offered a meet-and-greet with Montoya for additional $42 donation to his nonprofit.

"Our phones would ring off the hook," Gray said. "I don't know how many people are going to be at that meet-and-greet, but it's going to be a big number." Although he doesn't know exactly what percentage of his crowd Sunday will be Hispanic -- that will be analyzed after the race -- the track president expects "almost an international soccer match atmosphere" for the event.

At Montoya's charity gala, the atmosphere was something else entirely. Up on the pool deck, drivers like Gordon, Johnson, Kahne, Max Papis, Jarno Trulli and Reed Sorenson mingled with celebrities who would stop traffic anywhere in Latin America. The guy in the open-collared shirt and sunglasses? A famous singer, a Spanish-speaking motorsports journalist informs you. The tall, wispy woman in the skin-tight black dress? "A runner-up in the Miss Universe pageant," he says. Shakira, the Colombian pop-music starlet, provides a videotaped message. The masters of ceremonies are hosts of television programs on Telemundo and its Spanish-language brethren, Univision.

Like all the other celebrities, Gordon and his wife, Ingrid, make their way down the red carpet, and are stopped often for interviews. The four-time champion has seen Montoya's impact first-hand this week -- he's staying with a friend who has a Colombian co-worker, and there's only one NASCAR driver she knows. It's been something of a gradual transition; just as Montoya has sometimes struggled with the stock car, his fans have struggled to understand the nuances of a sport in which a top-10 finish is considered a good thing. His arrival in 2007 cracked the door, but his success this year flung it wide open.

"I think there are a lot of race fans in South America," Gordon said. "I don't know how much they've been following NASCAR. They've been following Formula One. Now, I think you get a little bit more South American influence with Nelson Piquet and Juan and a few more, and that will only increase the awareness in the Hispanic market."

More than 700 guests attended the gala, which raised money for not only Montoya's nonprofit but a host of other Colombian charities. Even so, it's been a trying week -- Montoya calls Miami races "a nightmare" because of the demands placed upon him, and he's been trying to shake a fever that two days ago was at 101 degrees. "At home feeling like crap," he wrote Thursday on his Twitter page.

But by Friday morning his condition had improved, and he recovered from an early spin in Cup practice to post the second-fastest time of the session. With every lap, he tries to win races and hearts and minds, all at the same time. Now if only he could make the same inroads in his own home.

"My son is actually a huge Kyle Busch fan," he said, referring to 4-year-old Sebastian. "I'm not lying. If you go look by my motor home, I just got an M&Ms hood that I'm going to put in his room. I have to put a Target one up as well."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.