Montoya, Pattie pick up pair of contingency awards

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Saturday night under the lights in the desert at Phoenix International Raceway, Juan Montoya and the No. 42 team proved they just might be a force to be reckoned with this year, earning a top-five finish and both driver and crew chief post-race awards.

Montoya

Montoya, who started seventh in Saturday night's Subway Fresh Fit 600, ended the evening with a fifth-place finish and the Mobil 1 Command Performance Driver of the Race award provided to the highest-finishing team that carries the Mobil 1 decal. Veteran crew chief Brian Pattie picked up his second DIRECTV Crew Chief of the Race award this season. This award is given to the crew chief who demonstrates best qualifying and race effort as determined by the average of qualifying result and race finish.

The awards are part of the NASCAR Prize Money and Decal program, also referred to as the contingency program, which provide teams prize money and weekly awards based on performance in several categories.

The 2010 NASCAR season marks the eighth consecutive season in which Mobil 1 is the official motor oil of NASCAR. DIRECTV, Inc. has been the official satellite television service provider of NASCAR since 2005.

Montoya led the 375-lap race four times for a total of 104 laps and capped a Driver Rating of 128.8 at the 1-mile oval. The solid performance at Phoenix is a real game-changer for the No. 42 team and Saturday night showed signs of regaining the consistent form that propelled them into last year's Chase.

"We are a top-five team, easily," said Montoya, who has led laps in five of the seven races this season. "We run in the top five every week. We're there [and] always one of the fastest cars in practice, qualifying, even at race pace."

It was the second top-five finish of the season for Montoya, who climbed four spots in points to 21st. Heading into this weekend's Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the No. 42 team sits just 132 points outside of the 12th position with 19 races left until the Chase begins.

For a complete list of Phoenix contingency winners, click here.