NASCAR Cup Series

Montoya didn't make friends in Sonoma

Published Jun. 27, 2011 1:00 a.m. ET

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Larry McReynolds

Obviously, there were a lot of people upset with Juan Pablo Montoya following the NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Infineon Raceway on Sunday.

Neither Kasey Kahne nor Brad Keselowski was a big fan of Montoya. I think it was safe to say Montoya didn’t leave Sonoma with a long list of friends.

We’ve seen this in the past from him when he gets behind. He simply starts beating and banging on everyone to try to move forward. Yes, he has won a couple of the road-course events, but there is no way he is going to win them the way he did Sunday.

Then there was the issue between Tony Stewart and Brian Vickers. On Lap 39, Stewart got into the back of Vickers and turned him. The payback for Stewart came on Lap 87 in the same Turn 11 where Vickers had been wrecked. Vickers dumped Stewart and wasn’t sorry for it. Both drivers agreed they dumped each other on purpose.

What’s interesting is they now are both over it. They’ve moved on.

Those are two guys who both get it. Plus, they know they don’t have the time to get caught up with each other. The announcement was made earlier this week that Red Bull is leaving NASCAR, so not only Vickers, but his team as a whole, is auditioning for their futures.

On Stewart's side of the coin, we are 10 races from the Chase for the Sprint Cup and he is currently outside the top 10 in points. Add to that, he has not won a race this year, so he needs to remain focused on the much bigger picture. That, in addition to the comments made in their postrace interviews, is why I believe both guys have already moved on from what happened Sunday.

The Turn 11 I mentioned earlier is the ultimate place to get someone and also to get someone back. This is where you are going from probably the fastest part of the racetrack to pretty much the slowest part. You are coming off the esses at more than 100 mph and slowing up to about 35 mph.

It really is Calamity Corner. You saw an incident between polesitter Joey Logano and Robby Gordon there.

Personally, I don’t think we have seen the end of the aggression. We also have to keep in mind that we always have people mad at each other when they leave the road courses.

Will we see payback at Daytona International Speedway this weekend or Kentucky Motor Speedway next weekend? No, probably not, but remember we have another road coarse, Watkins Glen International, coming up in about a month and a half. We also have some short tracks coming up.

So, as I mentioned, we are 10 races from the Chase. This is the first year with this new format of taking the top 10 in points and then the remaining two spots are filled by the two wild-card selections. So I actually think it is going to be pretty damn exciting right up to the race at Richmond International Raceway in September, which is the last race to set the field for the 2011 Chase.

As to Sunday's race, not only do you have to tip your hat to winner Kurt Busch, who not only got his first win of the season but also his first-ever road course win, but David Gilliland is another driver who has to be very happy. Not only did he get up there and lead the race, but he brought the car home for a great 12th-place finish.

He has to be very excited about heading back to Daytona this weekend. Remember back in February that he surprised a lot of people with an awesome top-five finish in the Daytona 500.

Now, sure, racing Daytona in February is a lot different than racing there on a Saturday night in early July. Plus, you can never ever forget that when it comes to restrictor-plate racing, it is a total crapshoot. Anything can and does happen at those kinds of races.

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