Juan Pablo Montoya, 2014 winner at Pocono, returns this weekend to defend not only the race win but his championship lead. [Chris Owens Photo]
Verizon IndyCar Series point leader Juan Pablo Montoya will be hearing footsteps at Pocono Raceway Sunday as runner-up Graham Rahal and eight others look to catch JPM and take over the run for the championship for the first time this season.
Montoya, who won the series’ opener at St. Petersburg in March and hasn’t been headed since, hasn’t run well lately and is in danger of losing his nine-point lead.
“It’s unfortunate that we have given up some points over the last few races. It’s going to be very special to go back there (Pocono) as the defending winner and to the place where we were able to validate Roger’s belief that I could come back in 2014, back to Indy cars and win having been away for so long.” said the Colombian who came back from six seasons in F1 and seven in NASCAR to place fourth for Team Penske Chevrolet in the championship in his return to Indy cars. “We know we can go back to Pocono and win the race.”
So with the confidence that he can stay ahead of the pack, Montoya will race at Pocono’s “ABC Supply 500” Sunday hoping to hold off the fast-closing Honda of Rahal (-9 points), and Chevrolets of Scott Dixon (-34), Helio Castroneves (-58) and Will Power (-59) who are among 10 still eligible to win the 2015 crown.
Opened in 1971 and designed first for USAC Indy cars, the track has hosted USAC and CART series events from 1971-1989 and IndyCar when the open-wheelers returned two years ago.
NASCAR came to the track in 1974 and has raced there ever since, but the inaugural open wheel race found NASCAR stars Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough chasing the likes of A. J. Foyt and Mario Andretti.
Mark Donohue won that inaugural 500-miler and Foyt has been victorious four times, but Montoya’s boss, Roger Penske, has led his team to eight wins here and that may prove an advantage with three Penske cars in Sunday’s top-five chase for the championship.
Rahal’s late-season charge has gathered steam with wins at Fontana and Mid-Ohio among four top-five’s in a row.
“We’re in a good place (in the standings) and we’ve got momentum on our side. The contenders at Pocono are the obvious ones: Power, Helio, Dixon, myself and obviously Montoya. We have to stay close to those guys and they don’t have any weaknesses,” noted the Steak ‘n Shake Honda driver. “This is a big race for us from many different perspectives and starting up front is very important, particularly if it goes as it did last year where it was pretty green the entire race.” The pole winner has gone on to win the race seven times at Pocono.
If any of those top-five runners win the unpredictable 500-miler Sunday they will go to the double-point finale at Sonoma’s road course on August 30 with a strong chance of winning the championship. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan team may have overcome its early season problems and could be in the best position of the five contenders to become the champions in two weeks: “Different aero packages were run at the other 500-mile races (Indy and Fontana where Rahal won). I do think we have learned a lot since we first ran the aero package on an oval and I think that lately we have been able to get some work done to close the gap even further to where we ultimately want to be,” said Rahal whose team has gotten better while the Chevrolet group has stayed strong from early-on. “I think we are starting to figure out the aero kit; starting to get in a better place here and become a little more competitive. Hopefully this will be the next step and we will be able to show that growth this weekend.”
And remember that Rahal’s wins have come on a super-speedway and a natural road course; the same types of tracks as the upcoming Pocono and Sonoma courses.
Hang on-these two races should be interesting to say the least.
POCONOTES:
• In 1981, during the USAC/CART split, A.J. Foyt won his final career Indy car race (#67) at Pocono over a USAC field made up of a mix of Indy cars and Silver Crown dirt track machines due to a boycott by several CART teams.
• Montoya won the 2014 Pocono 500 at a speed of 202.402; the fastest in Indy car history. It was also the first 500 to be run in less than 2hr. 30min.
• Since 1971, the Pocono winner has gone on to win the series’ championship six times.
• With Fontana’s Auto Club Speedway off of the 2016 IndyCar schedule, many wonder what will become of the Triple Crown for the series’ 500 mile races that awards the winner of all three a $1 million prize. Can two 500’s really be a Triple Crown?
• There have been nine different winners in the first 14 IndyCar events.
• The next win in an IndyCar race for the Chip Ganassi team will be its 100th. In 2013 the team swept the Pocono podium with Dixon winning and Charlie Kimball and Dario Franchitti following.
• Sonoma’s double-point finale next week will award 100 points to the winner, 80 for second and 70 for third. Points will also go to the driver who leads the most laps and any driver who leads a lap.
• The usual twenty-four cars will contest the Pocono event. Twenty-two started last year.
• TV: Qualifying- Saturday, NBC Sports, 2:00 pm ET.
Race- Sunday, NBC Sports, 2:00 pm ET.
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