Juan Pablo Montoya Not Playing Around With NASCAR Return

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Juan Pablo Montoya is back in NASCAR, and he “has no idea what to expect.”

At 48-years-old, the two time Indianapolis 500 winner and two-time NASCAR Cup Series winner is back in the thick of stock car racing this weekend after a long hiatus.

His start Sunday (Sept. 15) in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International — courtesy of 23XI Racing and Mobil 1 — is his first in Cup since he competed in the 2014 Brickyard 400.

Why is Montoya, who spends his time these days shepherding his son Sebastian’s racing career, back for a one-off appearance in NASCAR?

For the hell of it, basically.

Montoya, who will start 34th Sunday, got a call earlier this year from 23XI Racing President Steve Lauletta asking if he’d be interested.

“It is kind of funny, because [if] you would [have asked] me last year, and I would be like, ‘No, no way,'” Montoya said. “Then the idea comes, and I’m like, ‘Huh. I honestly think it is pretty cool.’

“The idea behind it is pretty cool, and the cars are really competitive — so why not? I really don’t have a reason not to do it.”

It doesn’t hurt that his NASCAR return is a reunion of sorts. Lauletta was the president at Chip Ganassi Racing when Montoya competed for the team.

Also, each time 23XI has fielded a third car this season, it has done so with sponsorship from Mobil 1.

“I raced with McLaren with Mobil 1, and actually my first sponsor in Columbia was Mobil 1 too,” Montoya said.

Montoya, who won the Cup race at WGI in 2010, thinks he “should run pretty well” come Sunday, even if the car he’ll drive now is in a different universe compared to what he previously experienced.

He asked some of his teammates what to expect from the car, and they told him, “It is so difficult to drive.”

However, he also asked road course veteran Michael McDowell, who told him, “It is much easier to drive — it is more like a GT3,” which is what Montoya expected.

He did get some time in the Next Gen car before showing up at Watkins Glen. He made 40 laps at Virginia International Raceway “just to get comfortable — make sure the seat and everything was working.”

He came away thinking it “was easier to drive than the last car.”

All of Montoya’s comments came before he climbed inside the No. 50 Toyota on Saturday (Sept. 14) to start the race weekend with two separate 20-minute practice sessions.

Montoya finished 13th fastest out of 19 cars in Group A with a best lap of one minute and 12.675 seconds.

Overall, he was 15th fastest with a top speed of 121.362 mph in 26 laps recorded.

He also was 15th in 10-lap average.

Sunday is notable in multiple ways.

It marks the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month.

In the field will be Colombia-native Montoya and Mexico-native Daniel Suarez.

This will be the first time that two Latin drivers from Central/South America have been in a Cup Series field since 1959. That’s when Eduardo Dibos and Raul Cilloniz, both Peru natives, raced at Daytona International Speedway.

“He’s an amazing racecar driver,” Suarez said. “Something I like about him is how versatile he is. He drives everything, or he used to drive everything, from Formula 1, to NASCAR, to Prototypes.. Things like that. He’s an amazing talent.”

There will be 11 drivers in the field for Sunday’s race who were on the starting grid for Montoya’s last, including Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin and McDowell.

“He must have gotten really bored or something,” Truex said with a laugh Saturday. “To come back after that many years of being in a stock car, and these things are so different. He’s an exceptional talent. It was teammates with him for a while and just raced with him a lot.”

Not among that group of drivers with experience against Montoya is William Byron.

“He was the man when I was growing up,” Byron said.

Byron was 16 years old and hadn’t even made his first NASCAR start when Montoya was last in a Cup car.

“He was really good here, he was good everywhere, just didn’t maybe win the oval races that he could have or should have,” Byron said. “It’ll be nice to be on the track with him.

Byron continued, before adding with a smile: “Hopefully he’s nice and respectful of playoff guys.”

When Byron’s playful comment was relayed to the 2000 and 2015 Indianapolis 500 winner, Montoya was matter of fact in his response.

He’s not in Upstate New York to play around.

“I will be nice and respectful of everyone that is nice and respectful for me,” Montoya said. “I don’t want to get in a pissing contest with anyone. I want to run well.

“If I get to you, and I’m quicker than you, I’m going to try to pass you. If you get to me, and you are quicker than me … the race is long enough. Like always, you wait for the adjustment and make the car better. If you make someone miserable at the start of the race, they are going to return the favor later.”

Put more simply: “If everybody races the hell out of you, then you are going to race the hell out of everybody.”

If things go well, could he back for more one-offs?

Montoya didn’t dismiss the idea.

“Probably some day — if someone comes to me one day and asks me if I want to do a one-off, I would probably say yes,” Montoya said. “But it is Saturday morning, so we will see.”