As Juan Pablo Montoya described the intricacies of road course racing before practice at Infineon Raceway, Mattias Ekstrom sneaked up and grabbed him from behind.
The playful exchange is a dramatic contrast from what the two drivers are familiar with across the pond — where neither teammates nor competitors have much time for one another on or off the track.
The two have been inseparable this weekend since Montoya, who posted seven victories in Formula One before his NASCAR stint, helped the 31-year-old Swede during a test at Virginia International Raceway earlier this month in preparation for his Sprint Cup debut on Sunday.
“I think he's a great guy,” Montoya said of the two-time DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) champ. “He's got a lot of talent. He's a really fast guy. He comes from Europe, and I really understand him pretty well. We seem to get on really well.”
Montoya and Ekstrom were both amazed at how helpful the NASCAR fraternity is to racers coming from other series. Montoya recounted an instance early in his stock career when Kevin Harvick recommended he “drive the car deeper into the corners.”
“That would never happen in Europe,” Montoya said. “If you saw that in Europe, you’d go, ‘Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha — who is that freaking idiot?’ ”
Ekstrom concurred: “No one would ever help you over there.
“Here, you give and you take feedback,” Ekstrom said. “Then one day you need it, you can go and ask someone and the next time you want to have something. The drivers are way more open to a certain extent. Then the helmet is on and it’s the last 10 laps and everyone is great enemies on the track, but great friends in the garage.”
And Montoya, who won the Save Mart 350 in his first attempt (2007), has offered Ekstrom an open door to gather whatever tricks or hints will help the rookie get up to speed.
Unfortunately for Ekstrom, he could have used Montoya’s assistance finding the start-finish line for qualifying. Ekstrom stopped approximately 100 feet short before completing his lap in the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota on Friday. He ended up 38th of 45 cars.
“We made some good progress from the practice, and then I made a few rookie mistakes,” Ekstrom said. “I lifted a little early on the start-finish because I wasn’t sure where they were going to wave me off, so there was some confusion. We made good progress, and I think we’ll be good for the race.”
Ekstrom picked up the pace in Happy Hour and was 20th-fastest on the speed chart with a lap of 78.060 mph.
Montoya, who qualified 14th, was consistent in Saturday’s practices. He posted the 13th- and 12th-fastest times, respectively, in the two practices. Although Montoya is considered a favorite for Sunday, he knows he’ll have to step up his performance to be in contention at the end of the race.
"It's pretty easy until you get to like 10th place, and then it gets a little harder," Montoya said. “Early on, it's a lot about strategy and how early you pit and everything. So, you've got to see how late you're going to go or how short you're going to do it. The shorter you go, the harder you can be on the car and the tires, because you're going to get off those tires very quickly.
“You see opportunity, you take it or you don't. When you do, there is always consequences. They can either give you room or you belt in and you hit each other. It can go really smooth, or it can be really aggressive. You want to make sure every time you do something if it's going to get aggressive you'd better know that you're going to get out on top."
Double duty
With Carl Edwards and Paul Menard running the NASCAR Nationwide Series race on Saturday, veteran Bill Elliott was practicing the Nos. 98 and 99 Fords back in Sonoma.
Elliott has run one race at Sonoma since 2003, but said he was “here just to run laps and check out fuel mileage.”
Menard’s crew chief, Slugger Labbe, said as soon as he found out his driver was running both series back in January, he knew Elliott would be “the guy.”
“Bill qualified really well here two years ago (seventh), and he doesn’t forget how to drive,” Labbe said.
Say what?
While Nationwide Series points leader Brad Keselowski was at Elkhart Lake preparing for Saturday’s race, his Penske Racing teammate Kurt Busch shook down the No. 12 Dodge during practice at Infineon Raceway. After six laps, Busch attempted to renegotiate with Keselowski’s crew chief Jay Guy for his services: "I've got to figure out my fee. A thousand bucks a lap?"
