 Montoya grabs pole for Brickyard 400
2010-07-24 18:05:00
Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - Juan Pablo Montoya captured the pole for the Brickyard 400 after posting the quickest lap in Saturday's qualifying at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Montoya edged defending race winner Jimmie Johnson for the pole with a lap of 182.278 m.p.h. The 34-year-old Colombian claimed his second pole of the season and the fourth of his Sprint Cup Series career. Montoya was fastest in both practice sessions on Friday at Indy.
"We have a car competitive enough to win the race, but I don't think we've got the only good car out there," Montoya said. "Last year, we had a really good balance in the race and it helped. But it's one of those deals that you've just got to see how it pans out and how it works and go from there."
"Our cars have come a long way," Montoya said. "Last year, we had a really fast car here, and I feel the same way this year. We still got to run the race. It's exciting when you go to a place, especially Indy, and you have a shot at winning and being this competitive."
One year ago, Montoya had the dominant car at Indy, as he led 116 of 160 laps. But Montoya was caught speeding on pit road during the final round of stops and had to serve a pass-through penalty. Johnson went on to claim his third Brickyard 400 victory, while Montoya settled for an 11th-place finish.
Montoya will attempt to become the first driver in history to win both the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 at Indy. He won the Indy 500 in 2000.
His team owner, Chip Ganassi, also will try to become the first owner to win the Daytona 500, as well as the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400 in the same season. Jamie McMurray won at Daytona for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates in February, while Dario Franchitti captured the victory at Indianapolis for Target Chip Ganassi Racing in May.
"Our teams have had a good run of things here," Ganassi said. "We have a race to run tomorrow, and we have lots of goals in mind for the team this season, and this is just one more step today having the pole."
Johnson, the four-time defending series champion, qualified 0.04 seconds behind Montoya to take the outside pole.
"I feel very fortunate and at the same time proud of my team that we've been able to continue to bring good cars to the track, execute and put ourselves in the position to have streaks from championships, race wins and an opportunity at three in a row here, which hasn't been done," Johnson said.
Mark Martin, who won the pole at Indy last year, took the third spot, while Montoya's teammate, McMurray, claimed the fourth position.
"It was very good lap," Martin said. "I tried to get maybe a little bit more than I should have in turn four, but in the end of the things, probably didn't hurt me."
Ryan Newman will start fifth, and Clint Bowyer will roll off sixth. Chevrolet swept the top-six starting positions for this race.
Greg Biffle gave Ford its best qualifying performance at Indy with a seventh starting spot.
Chevrolet drivers Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton completed the top-10. Harvick currently holds a 103-point lead over Gordon, who is a four- time Brickyard 400 winner.
David Gilliland, Casey Mears, David Stremme and J.J. Yeley failed to qualify.
Final practice at Indy is slated for later in the day, and Sunday's 400-mile race is scheduled to start around 1:00 p.m. (et).
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