Texaco leaving NASCAR: After sponsoring NASCAR teams for the last 20 years. Texaco Havoline has decided to leave the sport at the end of the year leaving Juan Pablo Montoya and the Chip Ganassi to find new sponsorship in 2009. [Scenedaily.com]
NASCAR handed down stiff penalties to the Joe Gibbs Nationwide Series teams for placing magnets under the throttle of their cars before a dyno test. Both teams have had thier crew cheifs, thier car chiefs and thier engine tuners, indenfietly susepnded. And both teams lost 150 driver and owener points [NASCAR PR via Jayski.com]
Kyle Busch and Juan Montoya had meeting of the fenders towards the end of Sunday's race in New Hampshire. Before the final caution came out the two were racing each other hard and after they both took the caution Busch rubbed into Montoya's car, Montoya didn't appreciate that and turned Busch unfortunately it didn't work out well for Montoya, as he was tagged by Busch's spinning car and spun out also. NASCAR didn't really care for Montoya's actions and penalized him two laps dropping him from 25th to 32nd in the final results.
"He hit me under caution, he hit me under green and I retaliated," Montoya said. "Did I go too far in retaliating? Yeah. I think they are giving me a penalty and it's OK for what I did. The only thing I told them was that they are always saying be very careful not to do anything under caution. The only reason I did that was that I was just defending myself."
Busch claims that he did nothing to upset Montoya.
"I got a run on him earlier and I got on the outside and he kind of kept coming up a little bit," said Busch. "I didn't turn down into him and just barely touched his quarter-panel. Then I got by him in three and four and he run me up the racetrack in the left rear. Then we came to that caution flag and he thought he beat me to the caution flag and I was just trying to get around the 40 (Dario Franchitti) car, who was in front of us there and touched him on the door and he just turned left and spun me down the front straightaway. I don't know what his beef is, but obviously NASCAR should probably fix it."
Well here is the video of the incident. You be the judge:
Sunday also featured another incident between Kasey Kahne and Aric Amirola as the two took turns punting each other.
Juan Montoya is still not happy over the firing of crew chief Jimmy Elledge and in a face to face meeting with car owner Chip Ganassi, Montoya let his feeling about the decision be known.
"I told him everything I was thinking and how it was," said Montoya, who finished 30th in the Coca-Cola 600. "The hope of the meeting is that everything that has happened turns into results. I need to run better. That's what will calm me down."
There is now rumor surfacing that Joe Gibbs Racing, who may lose Tony Stewart at the end of the year, is looking at Montoya as his replacement.
Things have become even more frustrating for Juan Montoya. Thursday night, Montoya posted the second slowest lap in qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600. "What did you expect?" he asked. "Seriously, what did you expect?" Montoya is still reeling from the midweek firing of Jimmy Elledge, a personnel decision that's given the Montoya his third crew chief in a month. Frustrated that his opposition to the dismissal went unheeded, Montoya is now worried that his team is ill-prepared for Sunday's race at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Because new crew chief Brian Pattie had just two days to dissect Elledge's setup on the No. 42 Dodge, changes were made on the fly during a difficult Thursday practice session that saw Montoya post the 45th slowest speed and starting 42ndon race day.Team owner Chip Ganassi sympathizes with Montoya's frustration, but said Elledge's dismissal was warranted after the crew chief engaged in a heated argument with competition director Steve Hmiel during last week's All-Star race. "We had an employee step over the line, and I'm sorry it happened because I like Jimmy personally, but it had to be done," Ganassi said. "I know Juan is upset and he comes out on the short end of this deal. I apologize for that, but unfortunately it was unavoidable collateral damage." Elledge declined to comment on his dismissal, but Montoya has been vocal in his opposition of the decision. Elledge had only been atop his pit box for four races, dating back to an earlier crew chief swap that sent Donnie Wingo over to Reed Sorenson's slumping team.
Rumors have surfaced that Juan Pablo Montoya's crew chief Jimmy Elledge has been released. If this is the case, this will be the second time within a month that Montoya has switched crew chiefs. I don't know about you, but a team can only take so many crew chief changes before the finger of blame starts pointing to the driver.
Texaco leaving NASCAR: After sponsoring NASCAR teams for the last 20 years. Texaco Havoline has decided to leave the sport at the end of the year leaving Juan Pablo Montoya and the Chip Ganassi to find new sponsorship in 2009. [Scenedaily.com]
