Juan Pablo Montoya and No. 42 Target Team
Bristol History: Montoya will be making his sixth NSCS start at Bristol Motor Speedway Saturday night. In Fall 2007 he earned the outside pole in just his second attempt at the .533-mile track and went on to finish in 17th on the lead lap. Earlier this season Montoya qualified for the 500-lap event in 12th and then drove a solid race to finish ninth, marking his best finish at Bristol.
Did You Know: For the season Montoya is the fifth fastest driver on restarts behind Jeff Gordon, Kurt and Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson.
Montoya Visits the White House: Juan Pablo Montoya has been invited to attend a White House event with the 2008 NASCAR Champion, last season’s chase contenders and former NASCAR Champions on Wednesday, Aug. 19th. The event will include a tour of the White House, filming of public service announcements and conclude with a visit by President Barack Obama on the South Lawn. Montoya will finish his day with a live appearance, from the South Lawn of The White House, on ESPN’s NASCAR Now at 5:15 pm.
About Michigan: Juan Pablo Montoya was able to maintain seventh position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings after a 19th-place finish at Michigan last weekend. Montoya proved he had a fast car when he qualified in the third position for the start of the Michigan 400. He battled inside the top-10 for a majority of the day until his left rear tire was hit by the splitter of the No. 9 car causing damage to the left rear quarter panel and a severed brake line. The Target team was able to repair the damage and get Montoya back out on the track only two laps down. Montoya made his way back on the lead lap with 40 laps to go and fought his way to the 19th position before the drop of the checkered flag.
In the Points: Montoya was able to maintain seventh position in the NSCS standings after finishing 19th place in Michigan. He now sits 103 points out of both fourth and 13th with only three races left before the chase cutoff.
2009 In Numbers: Montoya and team have one pole award, one top-five, 11 top-10 and 15 top-15 finishes in the 2009 season. In the 23 Cup races run this season Montoya has earned 19 top-20 finishes. He has led 133 laps and averages a starting position of 12.5 and a finishing position of 13.6 this season.
Bristol Natives: Tony Glover hails from Kingsport, Tenn. He is a team manager at the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Concord, N.C. race shop. He has been in racing for 36 years and throughout his career Glover has built the reputation as one of the top mechanical minds in motorsports. In addition, Glover has a knack for developing drivers and winning big races. Under his guidance, Ernie Irvan, Sterling Marlin and Joe Nemechek captured their first NASCAR Sprint Cup wins.
Cousins Heath Silver and Andy Silver are natives of Asheville, N.C. and both call Bristol their home track. Heath is the Car Chief of the Target Chevrolet and Andy is a mechanic on the team during the race weekend.
Chevy Fast Fact: GM introduced the industry’s first extended-range electric vehicle, the Chevy Volt, in which drivers will be able to travel up to the first 40 miles without using a single drop of gas. The Chevy Volt is targeted to be in Chevrolet showrooms by the end of 2010.
CHASSIS INFO
No. 42 Target Chevrolet (NSCS): Chassis #818. Pattie and the No. 42 team are brining chassis #818 to Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend. This chassis has been used twice this season earning a best finish of 12th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in June.
No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet (NSCS): Chassis #804. The No. 1 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet team will bring chassis #804 to Bristol this weekend. This chassis has been used once this season at the Sprint All-Star Race at Lowes Motor