by Tom Bowles
Kermit the Frog may have it tough being green, but in the muppet-like drama of NASCAR I’m betting it’s 1,000 times tougher to be driving the red No. 42 Target Chevy these days. Indeed, every driver appears to see a bulls-eye on Juan Pablo Montoya’s back, past the point of marriage counseling and consulting every lawyer possible to see if they can initiate stock car divorce.
“You can’t race around the jackass,” Clint Bowyer said as the “Oh, Snap!” quote of the shortened Sprint Cup week when he was eliminated in an ugly Tuesday wreck courtesy of Montoya’s front bumper. “You never can. Anybody in this sport knows what you’re up against when the No. 42 comes up. He dive-bombs the starts and bullies his way up in there and before you know it, he’s in the way and wrecking with somebody. I’m tired of it. Everybody in the garage area fights him. He’s just an idiot.”
Some may dispute that version of events — including Montoya himself, who wasted no time pulling his patented “counterpunch” where taking blame was the last item on the agenda. “I heard that Bowyer wasn't too happy,” he posted on Twitter. “I guess next time he'll give me a little room.”
Who’s really at fault? I don’t think in matters, because in looking back at this incident, there’s one quote I find hard to disagree with Bowyer on: no one seems to be on Montoya’s side, regardless of truth. Shockingly enough, in this “peace and love” era of NASCAR where information sharing is second nature, Montoya really has become the sport’s red herring — the one man few, if any, can stand.
Don’t believe me? Here’s a quick cross-section of those not on Montoya’s Christmas card list. Grab a cold one and get settled in, because this one could take awhile …
Jamie McMurray (teammate) McMurray’s partnership with Montoya was ruined on a rare occasion where the Colombian became a clear victim. But after McMurray wrecked out the No. 42 at Las Vegas in the spring of 2010, it was Montoya who stepped over the line.
“I'm sure [McMurray] is going to say, 'Oh, I didn't mean that,'” he said after heading to the garage early. “Every time I'm around him, he wants to run the s--t out of me. I don't know if it's OK to say that but I just did [laughing]. He's just trying to prove to people he can drive a race car and I guess he isn't doing too many favors on this team.”
Montoya’s wife, Connie, even went a step further, insinuating in Spanish that McMurray “drives like a giant chicken” on Twitter. The two have supposedly made up since, but when your co-worker says that to you is it really so easy to forgive and forget?
Brad Keselowski Montoya’s disgust with Keselowski began earlier this year at Sonoma when the No. 2 Dodge used the No. 42 for “Target practice” en route to a fifth-place finish.
“We (went) through the corner and I just got on his bumper a little bit and moved him a little,” Montoya said of the pre-wreck contact. “Got a good run and I guess he didn’t like it. I mean, it is just hard to run with people who have never run well on road courses or have no experience at it.”
As expected, Keselowski hardly waved the white flag of surrender in response.
“The body language of Juan’s car said he was going to wreck me,” he explained. “I just made sure that didn’t happen.”
Kasey Kahne Just laps earlier in that same Sonoma event it was Kahne who ended up wounded after Montoya drove through his No. 4 Red Bull Toyota. That caused the Washington native, normally as quiet as can be, to get personal.
“Montoya just drove through me at the top of the hill … that’s just obvious,” he said. “Last year when [the Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing] cars were really, really good and Jamie McMurray was the man, Juan still couldn’t win a race. That shows about what he can do here in NASCAR anyways.”
Mark Martin For years, Martin’s been known as one of the cleanest drivers this sport has ever seen (although I’ll admit 2011 has been a black mark on that reputation). But try telling that to Montoya, who’s complained at times that the gray-haired veteran becomes a moving obstacle on-track.
“He didn't like the way I passed him there on the last lap,” Martin said after the two had issues in Chicagoland last year. “[Called it] borderline stupid driving and suggested I take some smart driving lessons from him.” Montoya also complained about Martin’s driving style when — gasp! — the No. 5 car held its winning line during the closing laps of a fall 2009 Loudon race where the No. 42 wound up second.
Tony Stewart It’s been awhile since Smoke, err … blew his top. But remember the 2009 Homestead season finale? He turned racing with Montoya into a high-speed game of bumper cars with disastrous results. The two haven’t exactly been friends since.
Kyle Busch In the days before “New Kyle,” the old version would rant about literally everything that happened to him on-track. The July 2010 Coke Zero 400 was no exception, but this time Busch had evidence to back it up, claiming Montoya flat out wrecked him while battling for the lead at Daytona on Lap 104.
“The replay shows I turned right across the nose of the 42, so apparently I wanted to wreck myself,” he said. “Some people don’t understand what happens in these cars. With the old tires like that, I’ve got no grip, I’m barely hanging on sliding around as it is out there.”
Joey Logano The typically mild-mannered “Sliced Bread” nearly sliced Montoya in half after the two made contact at Homestead last year. How bad did it get? Felix Sabates, Montoya’s co-owner, literally threatened J.D. Gibbs title contender Denny Hamlin would wind up wrecked if Logano didn’t cut it out. Apparently, the youngster (are you sensing a theme?) was upset about the way he was being raced, retaliating after the first incident so both men would end their day with time spent inside the garage.
“I gave him plenty of room,” Logano said. “I just felt like I got hooked. That’s two times with him this year. I don’t know what the deal is.”
Kevin Harvick Two men, one shove-fest. There’s YouTube video proof.
“It just seems like he runs over somebody every week,” Harvick said that day, and he should know, as these two have made contact several times over Montoya’s five years in Cup, averaging to about once a season. Perhaps RCR’s most heated intra-Cup rivalry until …
Clint Bowyer See Atlanta. Tuesday. And a Cheerios car that looks like mush.
Ryan Newman The No. 1 anti-Montoya suspect. These two tangled both on the track and off this spring, after a series of Richmond incidents inciting a meeting in the NASCAR hauler where Newman supposedly socked Montoya. It was a prizefight no one would actually confirm happened, even though when reached for comment it was the Colombian who said, “Newman punches like a girl.”
Frankly, these two have had it out for each other ever since Montoya’s Homestead Cup debut went up in flames after they tangled in 2006. It got so bad this time around, the “suckerpunch victim” threatened legal action unless NASCAR dished out one of those “secret fines” to his Stewart-Haas Racing rival.
Jimmie Johnson Where do we begin? The latest tiff between the two occurred in July, when contact up in New Hampshire sent Johnson spinning and forced the No. 48 into hyper-aggressive mode simply to claw back up to fifth by the finish.
“The No. 42 — I don’t think of the three times he’s wrecked me it’s been intentional,” said Johnson. “But he’s out of mulligans. I’ve had enough of, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, and you’re spun out.’ It’s happened way too often.”
Apparently, that’s the case with everyone. So far, we’ve listed 10 drivers, nearly a quarter of the Sprint Cup field each week, with whom a Montoya feud has gone public — and that’s not including the private scrapes even the media can’t get hold of each week. Even those drivers some might classify as underdogs — like Regan Smith, who was a Montoya victim in May 2010 at Charlotte — have developed a grudge. But how could you now when the Colombian responds to an accident like he did after that one?
“It's just hard when you have guys that don't belong there running there,” Montoya said of Smith, who has now won just as many races (one) on the Cup level during the past two seasons. “He never gave me any room … I wanted to run the middle and he just turned down. That's what happens when you start by a lottery and not by performance, and he just doesn't have any [talent]."
The irony of it all is that it’s Montoya’s performance that has suffered the most. All of the drivers on this list, save Logano and Smith, have more career victories while more than half will make the Chase this season. Compare that to an ugly track record for Earnhardt-Ganassi’s top team, which will miss the playoffs for the second straight year and fourth time in five, currently sitting 21st in points and armed with just two top-5 finishes in 25 starts. But don’t expect Montoya himself to take the blame for that, as his crew chief Brian Pattie was axed in July after playing “anger management” on top of the pit box for three seasons.
Bowyer may have stepped over the line in calling Montoya names. But when will Montoya utter the two most important words all these drivers want to hear?
An “I’m sorry” would go a long way, right? But I guess the first problem with that is you actually have to believe that something was your fault.
Agree with Tom? Disagree? Post a comment below and tell him how you feel. You can also follow Tom on Twitter @NASCARBowles
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