NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks

Topics:  FedEx 400 Benefiting Autism Speaks

Juan Pablo Montoya
June 2, 2013

DOVER, DELAWARE

THE MODERATOR: Talk about that race out there today.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I thought it was pretty good to be honest with you. Our car was okay. We came here, did a test before the race and it was a lot cooler, so when we unloaded we had to do quite a bit of work on the car. We struggled with loose all day and the longer we run, the worse it got.
I don't know, it was a bit of a hit and miss. One of the runs on the green, we decided to‑‑ we made a couple of big changes on the car, and the car just took off, came to life, and it came to life at the right time. It's a shame, you know, there at the end, it was way too loose and I just couldn't hold Tony off.

Q. Can you talk about the last restart?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Jimmie was laying off about just nearly a car length from me, and I knew he was trying to jump the start. And I backed off a little bit for us to line up, and he didn't want to do it.
.when we got to the line, I think he wanted to time it and he timed it too well, and he just‑‑ you know, he wanted to get the jump on me and he just jump it too much. I would have tried to have done the same. It's one of those deals that when you time it too good, it actually hurts you.

Q. Can you talk about the overall finish?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: We got two top fives in about a month, near misses, wins and I think they are coming. I've said this before: You have got to start running in Top‑5s, Top‑10s to be able to get wins, to give yourself a shot.
Today we gave ourselves a good chance. Just the car was a little bit too much of a handful there at the end. We tried and I think it was too hot on the tires the run before, and our left tires were completely gone I think. Taking two really hurt us, but we had to for the track position. It's one of those deals.

Q. Can you talk about how your relationship has evolved with (ph) over the last year and a half?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Yeah, when we started, it was hard because he had a certain mentality the way the car had to be set up and I was like, you don't get it, if you set it up like that and I can't drive it, it doesn't matter how good of a base set up it is. You've got to give me something that I can drive and be comfortable and hustle the car.
It took a little bit of time, but now I think we are clicking really well and you know, we have been getting good results every week that it's awesome.

Q. You were testing here a couple of weeks ago and you were not very happy with the car‑‑
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Still wasn't today.

Q. But where did it click for you guys to be able to run Top‑5, Top‑10 today?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: The problem is us being pissed off with a car when we are not happy, it's about a 15th place care. When it was our best, we couldn't run 20. It's all relative. We unloaded really well and we did everything right. You know, we had good strategy, good calls, made the car better and we were patient.
But you know, right there at the end, I was out of tires, and even, you know, I thought Jeff had me there at the end.

Q. Just wanted to follow up, can you speak about the laps, fighting with Kurt, he seemed to be a little annoyed?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It's weird, I got to his bumper‑‑ I don't think I touched him, got him loose got into turn three, and he gave me a tap and I'm like, I don't think I hit you‑‑ I didn't think I had. But it's okay. It's racing hard.