Montoya becomes a dad for the third time

The NASCAR family continues to grow. Sprint Cup driver Juan Pablo Montoya announced Monday afternoon on Twitter that his wife Connie had given birth to their third child, daughter Manuela:

jpmontoya: Manuela was born an hour ago. Mother and baby doing great!!!

Montoya and Connie were married in October 2002. They are also the parents of a son, Sebastian, and a daughter, Paulina.


The birth is the latest in NASCAR's baby boom. Four-time and defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and his wife Chandra welcomed their first child, daughter Genevieve Marie, on July 7. Four-time champion Jeff Gordon and his wife Ingrid are expecting their second child, a son, in August.

Jamie McMurray, Montoya's teammate at Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing, and his wife Christy are expecting their first child in December.

Skirts and Scuffs congratulates Montoya and Connie on their new addition!

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Busch vs. Busch: Daytona (July)

Kyle Busch

Nationwide: No one could compare to Dale Earnhardt Jr. and the weekend he was having but Kyle Busch tried during the Subway Jalapeño 250 at Daytona. During the rain-soaked weekend, Busch got in two of the three practices, finishing seventh and 22nd. Qualifying fifth, he led four times for a total of 19 laps and finished seventh. Having missed three races, Busch is still fourth in points.

Cup: Busch's Cup weekend started off the way it ended: with a crash. In the first practice he was 11th but in the final practice, he was side-by-side with teammate Denny Hamlin and they got together (Busch took blame for the accident … see quote below). Luckily for Busch, he did not need to go to a back up car and qualified third. Busch overcame a loose wheel on lap 28, contact with the No. 43 of A.J. Allmendinger on lap 67 and was able to lead three times for 23 laps. However, in a similar situation to his crash with Hamlin, Busch crashed after contact with the No. 42 of Juan Pablo Montoya. Unfortunately, the damage was too much to fix and the No. 18 finished in the 40th position. Busch leaves Daytona sixth in points, falling three spots from last week.

Busch explained in his interview after the crash his take of what happened: “He [Montoya] was too close to my side and he started turning me sideways down the straightaway without even touching me just like I did to Denny [Hamlin]. He started turning before I even got over the No. 6 [David Ragan] in practice. When you have no grip on these tires...I was two laps away from pitting...the thing started rear steering me down the straightaway and I had no control over it. I didn’t turn across the nose of the No. 42. Why would I do that? Why would I wreck myself?”


Kurt Busch

The elder Busch had just as bad a night, if not worse, as his brother...

The remainder of this article can be read at examiner.com.

Article originally published at LV NASCAR Examiner and republished with permission of author.

Photo Credit: Chris Graythen/Getty Images

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Montoya wins New Hampshire pole

Juan Pablo Montoya captured his first pole of the season and his second straight at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Montoya ran a lap of 132.337 mph, 28.781 seconds in Friday's qualifying session, beating Kasey Kahne for the top starting spot in Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301.

Montoya himself was surprised by his pole-winning lap after he got loose in Turn 3.

"It was a good lap until Turn 3, where I got sideways," Montoya said. "I got sideways, still in the gas, and I thought, 'They're going to kill me.' I was about to press the button and say, 'Sorry, guys, I got loose,' and they go, 'Oh, good job!'


This is Montoya's third career pole. Rounding out the top five are Kurt Busch, Mark Martin and Ryan Newman.

Bobby Labonte, who ended his contract with TRG Motorsports this week, had a rough day Friday in the No. 7 car for Robby Gordon Motorsports. The 2000 Sprint Cup champion wrecked in Turn 4 in the first practice session and had to go to a backup car. Time expired for the No. 7 team to make their qualifying run, but they made the field based on owner points and will roll out 42nd in Sunday's race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s qualifying run was delayed after a fuel pump cable broke twice on the No. 88 car during practice. He will start 31st.

Reed Sorenson will be making his first start in the No. 83 car, sitting in for Brian Vickers, who is undergoing treatment for blood clots. Sorenson is the third driver to pilot the ride in Vickers' absence, following Casey Mears and Mattias Ekstrom. He will start in the 29th position.

The Lenox Industrial Tools 301 will be broadcast live Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on TNT. Green flag is scheduled for 1:15 p.m. ET.


Starting lineup:

1. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 132.337.
2. (9) Kasey Kahne, Ford, 132.158.
3. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 132.062.
4. (5) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 131.998.
5. (39) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 131.966.
6. (00) David Reutimann, Toyota, 131.875.
7. (87) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 131.742.
8. (77) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 131.633.
9. (33) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 131.556.
10. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 131.456.
11. (20) Joey Logano, Toyota, 131.329.
12. (47) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 131.315.
13. (98) Paul Menard, Ford, 131.279.
14. (12) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 131.211.
15. (82) Scott Speed, Toyota, 131.189.
16. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 131.18.
17. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 131.103.
18. (78) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 131.049.
19. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 131.035.
20. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 131.017.
21. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 130.945.
22. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 130.801.
23. (36) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 130.734.
24. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 130.626.
25. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 130.599.
26. (56) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 130.586.
27. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 130.456.
28. (43) A J Allmendinger, Ford, 130.367.
29. (83) Reed Sorenson, Toyota, 130.313.
30. (19) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 130.3.
31. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 130.22.
32. (13) Max Papis, Toyota, 130.024.
33. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 130.02.
34. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 129.714.
35. (46) J.J. Yeley, Dodge, 129.626.
36. (66) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 129.6.
37. (55) Michael McDowell, Toyota, 129.278.
38. (26) David Stremme, Ford, 129.221.
39. (37) David Gilliland, Ford, 128.893.
40. (71) Andy Lally, Chevrolet, 127.997.
41. (34) Kevin Conway, Ford, Owner Points.
42. (7) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, Owner Points.
43. (64) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 128.178.

Did not qualify:
(38) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 127.679.
(09) Mike Bliss, Chevrolet, 127.436.

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The Lugnut Report: Juan Pablo Montoya Survives Darlington, Looks to Continue Strong Run

Juan Pablo Montoya finished ninth in the 2009 Chase to the Sprint Cup championship, and he and his No. 42 Target Chevrolet team were looking for even better things in 2010.

And despite four top fives and six top tens, Montoya still finds himself winless, and overally disappointed with his season thus far. Entering this past weekend's Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington wasn't exactly the Columbian's idea of a fun time.

"I haven't found that (magic) in Darlington yet," Montoya told SB Nation's Jeff Gluck. "but if you ask (team manager) Tony Glover, he'll think that's the Holy Grail of NASCAR."

Montoya's evening with the Lady in Black was very much similar to his season; he started 15th, gathered more than one Darlington stripe, but managed to claw and scratch his way to a top five finish. It's a season that, along with those six top tens, has saw him finish outside the top 25 five times.

His fiery ways and risk taking moves haven't won him many fans, but it seems to be building his momentum as the 2010 season moves along.

"This Target Chevy was good all night," Montoya said after the race. "We worked really hard all day. In the beginning it was really fast, then it went away. It was hard work."

Montoya later went on to say, "I was pretty happy. I'm just relieved we got to the end to tell you the truth with a top five finish."

The fifth place finish was a Darlington career best for Montoya, who had yet to finish above 20th in his previous three starts.

He is currently 17th now in Cup standings, jumping up one spot after surving Darlington, but is 358 points behind points leader Kevin Harvick.

If he hopes to continue with this current wave of good fortune, JPM is going to have to battle his demons with the Monster Mile, Dover International Speedway.

Despite finishing fourth in the fall Dover race in 2009, Montoya has just two other top 15 finishes, and three finishes of 30th or worse, including a DNF in 2008.

However, being just 12 races into the season and with a string of top ten finishes under his belt, you'd be a fool to count out Montoya for a championship run just yet.

Thanks to SB Nation, Racing Reference, FOX, NASCAR.com and the Vancouver Sun for the information, stats and quotes used in this post.

If you'd like to read Patti Rodisch's Lugnut Report on Mark Martin, click here.

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The Lugnut Report: Juan Pablo Montoya Comes Home Third in Atlanta

Coming into Atlanta Motor Speedway, one didn't hear much talk about how this has been one of Juan Pablo Montoya's best tracks since coming to NASCAR in 2007.

No, most of the talk was about the incident between Montoya and his Earnhardt Ganassi teammate Jamie McMurray.

"Don't worry, it happened, yes I was real mad, but let's move foward," Montoya said after the Daytona 500 champion texted him during the week.

Montoya and company were more and ready to put the skuffle behind them.

The No. 42 Target Chevrolet ended the first practice of the weekend in fifth and would qualify third. His later practice sessions wouldn't prove as fruitful, ending them 16th and 32nd, respectively.

Taking the green flag for the Kobalt Tools 500, no one still would stop talking about whether he and McMurray had really buried the hatchet.

Montoya spend nearly all day running up front, spending the first 13 laps running behind Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne and polesitter Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Despite his constant hard charges to the front, it was the lap 164 that would propel him to finally collect his five bonus points and take the lead.

Threading the needle, Montoya zipped by then leader Denny Hamlin on lap 172, but three laps later a fast Kahne took the lead three laps later.

Kahne and Kurt Busch were the class of the field all day long, and proved too much for the No. 42, and everyone else. Still, Montoya was able to stay with

As the laps in regulation continued to go down, Montoya was charging toward the Miller Lite Dodge, consistently gaining two tenths on Busch.

The ninth caution of the day came out when Carl Edwards, who was 156 laps down at the time, sent Brad Keselowski into the wall.

Despite having two more chances to go after Busch, Montoya wasn't able to catch him after spinning his tires and ended his day where he started it, in third.

With the effort JPM jumps five spots in the points standings to 21st. In two weeks, things are set to get even crazier as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rolls into Bristol Motor Speedway for the Food City 500. The race will be live on FOX at one p.m. Eastern time.

For Patti Rodisch's recap on the weekend Elliott Sadler had, click here.

Thanks to ESPN, NASCAR on FOX, Yahoo!, NASCAR.com, Jayski and Racing Reference for the information and quotes used in this article.

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