Montoya ends frustration with victory at The Glen

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Welcome, Juan Montoya, to the Chip Ganassi party.

Saving his best for the end of Sunday's Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen, Montoya pulled away from Marcos Ambrose and Kurt Busch over the final 16 laps at Watkins Glen International and notched the second Cup Series victory of his career.

Winless in 113 races since his first Cup victory at Sonoma in June 2007, Montoya added another success to the already magical year his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team owner has enjoyed. Jamie McMurray, who finished sixth Sunday, won the Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 this year, and Dario Franchitti added an Indianapolis 500 victory with Ganassi's IndyCar organization. His Rolex Grand-Am team won at The Glen on Saturday.

Heluva Good! at the Glen

Race Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet
2.	Kurt Busch	Dodge
3.	Marcos Ambrose	Toyota
4.	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford
5.	Carl Edwards	Ford

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Busch passed Ambrose at the start/finish line on Lap 89 of 90 to steal second place from Ambrose, who came home third. A.J. Allmendinger, fresh from a contract extension with Richard Petty Motorsports, ran fourth, followed by pole-sitter Carl Edwards, who collected his sixth consecutive top-10 finish.

Montoya, however, had the field covered when it counted, leading 74 laps and crossing the stripe 4.735 seconds ahead of Busch.

"It's about time," Montoya said. "We've lost a lot of them, gave away a lot of them. It gets frustrating, everybody fighting."

It was the first career victory for Montoya's crew chief, Brian Pattie, whose call for four tires at the Brickyard 400 cost his driver a chance at victory.

"It's huge," Pattie said, fighting back tears. "I still want to win on an oval. He wants to prove his point. The Brickyard was my fault. Hope this makes up for it. Trophies mean a lot. It's pretty cool."

After a disappointing run at Pocono last week -- during which Montoya chastised Pattie and the team when the No. 42 Chevrolet lost positions on a late pit stop -- Montoya, Pattie and Ganassi met Saturday at Watkins Glen to make sure they were headed in the same direction.

"I think [Saturday] we had a good talk with Chip," Montoya said. "Last few weeks have been really frustrating for the whole team because we've been so close to victory. Seemed to keep slipping away.

"To come out here [Sunday] and get the job done the way we did [Sunday], it was big. I feel more relieved than happy right now. It's been a really hard road in a way. It's been a lot of fun; it's been frustrating.

"[Saturday] it was all about making sure everybody is on the same page, everybody has to do their job, and we came out [Sunday] and everybody executed. It's something Brian keeps saying, 'Keep saving the car, keep saving the car, keep saving the car.' And it paid off."

Ambrose, who won Saturday's Nationwide Series race and had realistic hopes for an unprecedented weekend double at The Glen, was Montoya's equal until the final pit stop for both drivers under green on Lap 59.

"Something went wrong on the last pit stop," lamented Ambrose, who had out-braked Montoya for the lead in Turn 1 on Lap 41 and held the top spot for five laps thereafter. "We lost the handle on the race car -- maybe a different set of tires, slightly different spring rate in the tires.

"I had nothing for Montoya there toward the end. Congratulations to him -- he drove a heck of a race. Just a lot of fun racing a guy with that much talent. He was swinging around the corners, jumping curbs, locking tires. It was just a really good battle, something I'll take away from this weekend as a memory I'll never forget."

Montoya and Ambrose may have dominated the action at the front of the field, but what happened at the back tightened the race for the final spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Clint Bowyer broke a trailing-arm mount and spent three laps in the garage for repairs, a calamity that knocked him out of the top 12.

Bowyer finished 32nd and swapped positions in the standings with Mark Martin, who came home 19th. Now 12th, Martin is 10 points ahead of Bowyer with four races left before the Chase field is set Sept. 11 at Richmond.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:
• Montoya, Pattie put concerns to rest with big win
• Ambrose falls short yet again at Watkins Glen
• Martin looking forward, keeping eye on Bowyer
• Momentum fleeting as The Glen proves hazardous