Photo by: AFP/Luis Acosta
From the very beginning, there was little doubt that Juan Pablo Montoya (Johnny Paul Beauford to some people in the state of Washington) would win the NASCAR Busch Series road race in Mexico City. He took the lead early, lost it due to a fueling problem in the pits, and quickly returned up to the front of the pack. We got to see the kind of driving that has made JPM both famous and infamous.
It is not my intent to justify for Montoya the wrecking of his teammate to take the lead, it was purely a move of impatience. JPM would have won the race anyway--both he and his car clearly outclassed the rest of the field--so he didn't have to make the "kamikaze" move he did with eight lap to go. It would have been much more fun to watch him take Scott Pruett in the esses, or in the drag race to turn 1, or at least with more finesse in that turn than he exhibited.
In Formula 1, there is an understood "blue flag" rule, where the slower car, even if in the lead, is expected to let the faster car overtake. This could be why he decided to move when he did--he thought Pruett was slower, and that he would be given room to pass. JPM has said that he has much to learn, still, about racing in NASCAR, and we hope he learned something on his way to his first NASCAR victory.
All that aside, it was an exciting race. Denny Hamlin once again showed us his capability and competive prowess while he raced the more experienced JPM hard and close. That race had me on my feet and scaring the cats.
Update: The legislater who made the comments about NASCAR and NASCAR fans, has apologized and spun his earlier statements to mean the ISC. I still don't have his correct name, but I wonder if he read my blog on the subject.
Nah, I'm just being pretentious.
Monday, March 05, 2007
The Johnny Paul Invitational
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5 comments:
I agree with you wholeheartedly ...JPM's NASCAR rookieness and his impatience were definite factors
Back to Cup racing this week!!!
I did notice Mr. Seaquist (legislator from Washington)has back peddled on what he said. Guess he had to have a footectomy to remove his foot from his mouth.
Trixie, thanks for clearing me up on the name. I kept thinking "Seacrest, Seagul, etc," because everytime they had him on TV, I missed the ID banner.
Thank you for your comment.
Racefan 57--I found that the Mexico City race satisfied my hunger. Las Vegas could be a mess with the new track. I wonder how practice will go this week?
Monty takes it any way it comes,he doesn't look to remoursfull on that picture does he!?
btw the blue flag in F1 is for lapped cars,not for slow leading cars
rob--it was misleading the way I wrote it, so I apologize. I wasn't referring to an actual blue flag, but the idea of giving the faster car room to pass. But one of the reasons JPM gave for leaving F1 is that they aren't allowed to race anymore. He's getting what he wanted.
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