The MONSTA!!

[DaveKillens]

A little clarification. On Sunday, Feb 11th the Cup cars ran the qualifying session, and JPM was 4th quickest. But according to a very convoluted and weird system, only the top 2 speeds are guaranteed on the front row. Then the field is split in half, and they run two 150 mile qualifying races. This determines the starting order for almost everyone else. JPM ran good on Thursday, but a mechanical problem caused a DNF. So he actually starts 36th.
I douby JPM can win, this kind of racing requires co-operation and assistance with the high priority on drafting. So sadly, don't expect much help for him because he's new and unknown.
But I sure will be cheering for him.

[Ray]

And you said he qualified 4th for the Daytona 500. Which he did not, I'm excited about following him in NASCAR too... but wait till the fat lady sings.

Back OT. I'm pulling for JPM too! I really wanna see him win his first outing though I don't think its likely. Good news is that with the draft and the bumping, starting 36th really doesn't matter. He has just as good a chance as anyone. I don't doubt his skill, but I doubt the quality of the car his team can provide right now.

Again Fizzer, at the time I posted that he WAS qualified fourth. I made a mistake and forgot about the Gatorade 125 races. So you can stop pointing out my mistake and read for the SECOND TIME why I posted that when I did.

I didn't mean the part about left turning opinions to you in particular. Sorry about that, but I did say that I don't care what anyone thinks. So sorry about the confusion no hard feelings.

I think the quality of his car is very good. Chip Ganassi doesn't buy crappy equipment. Remember Juan won the Champ Car Championship in his debut, and Chip was his car owner then. Why do you think the equipment isn't up to snuff Fizzer?

I have to agree Dave. I don't think he'll get much help in the 500 as we would like. But all this week he has drafted with quite a few guys, and they liked drafting with him. So you never know. But like you said, don't get you hopes up.

GO MONSTA!!

[Tom]

Apologies for my ignorance, it seems to be a huge event in America, but when is the 500? are you talking about the NASCAR race or the sportscars?

[Ray]

The Daytona 500 is today, on right now in fact. The 24 Hours of Daytona was a few weeks ago.

[Tom]

Ah, thanks, cleared up now. I'll try and watch a bit.

[Ray]

BOOGITY BOOGITY BOOGITY!!!! LET'S GO RACIN'!!!!

Race just started

[fizzer]

Interesting race... and Montoya with a top 20 in his first Daytona 500... not too shabby.

My comment about Ganassi wasn't a dig on the organization really. They are great in the open wheel series. They just seem to be having some trouble in NASCAR putting consistent packages together. I was listening to the race scanner for a lot of the race (until the server crashed). Montoya was hating his car and they couldn't do much for him. They made tons of adjustments and it wasn't really getting faster.

How about JPM avoiding that big wreck near the end though!! Not the very last wreck, but the one before that. Spectacular display of skill, heads-up driving, and showing that he has some good oval track experiance. I think he'll do a lot better in non-restrictor plate racing, Ganassi just isn't really competitive there.

Best thing about NASCAR... only 7 days to wait until the next race

[Ray]

Yeah, great skill. He avoided more than one wreck too! I think he'll do better when they aren't so close together. Other cars dictate alot of the way your car handles.

[DaveKillens]

When Montoya was signed to Ginassi, I'm sure that team stepped up a few notches in the budgeting. They never had a reputation for heavily investing in their NASCAR cup effort until now. But Montoya's car has major sponsorship, and it's obvious Ginassi is spending more on equipment and resourcesto go fast. In fact, during one pre-race interview Montoya indicated they weren't just seeking to do well in the first year, but be serious contenders for the title.
Considering how easy it is to get into major trouble in the Daytona race, JPM did a very good job. Sadly, they never really got a handle on the car's setup, and he was fighting an ill-handling car most of the race. But during one period he really seeemd to shine. I did a lot of the in-car coverage for Stewart (probably destined to win until bad luck struck) and when Stewart was moving up through the field, Montoya not only managed to stay ahead, but pretty well lead Stewart through many passsing scenarios. After about 20 laps his tires went bad, and he pretty well saw the end to being truly competitive.
For his first big race where it really counted, JPM did extremely well, and I consider his effort a success. I score him 8 out of 10, and a very positive result for nice driving and decision making.

[Ray]

Maybe it's because of Connie ( ) but I'm going to watch JPM all season and root for him. He's got a good head on his shoulders. Not to mention a hot ass wife.

He did VERY well in his debut, and I think he's gonna do very well. He didn't get into trouble, missed quite a few accidents, and most important, didn't cause any either.

[fizzer]

I hope you're right about the funding dave. It makes sense, we'll just have to see how it plays out.

My TrackPass scanner stopped working halfway through the race and I couldn't get reconnected so I didn't catch anything when the car was working well.

The other thing that's going to help Ganassi, I'm sure, is the feedback Montoya will be able to provide. Having worked with F1 engineers, I'm sure he'll be very communicative to his crew and probably teach them a thing or two about driver-engineer interaction. He's no schumi, but I'm sure he's a lot better at that than a lot of NASCAR drivers.

[DaveKillens]

Chip Ginassi. Or "Cheap" Ginassi, I've heard him called that name.
But I'm sure Montoya made sure Ginassi was comitted to a first-rate effort (money) before he signed the dotted line.
After each event, teams of analysists break down and chart each second every sponsor is displayed on TV. There is a dollar value assigned to TV exposure, and it's one of the major factors sponsors look at. Why do you think Childress kept Skinner so long? Somehow that guy magaged to get tons of TV exposure, which kept the sponsor(s) very happy.
And Monyota had brought a LOT of exposure to the Texaco car. Before he arrived Ginassi Racing was just another mid-pack team, never grabbing the headlines and almost anonymous among all the other teams. Heck, just a little while ago I was watching television and a local, non-sporting TV channel reported on the 500. They mentioned that Harvick beat out Martin by a hair at the finish line, and also mentioned that Montoya finished 19th.

"TV Ratings for Daytona 500: Daytona 500 on FOX produced a 10.1/20 rating/share and an average audience of 17.53 million viewers according to "fast national" figures released today by Nielsen Media Research. Yesterday's race ranks as the fifth highest-rated and the fifth most-watched Daytona 500 in history, and the second highest-rated and most-watched ever on FOX. An estimated 33.7 million Americans watched at least part of yesterday's Great American Race. The race a year ago, which was sandwiched in between NBC's coverage of the Torino Olympics, set all-time records for rating and viewership (11.3/23; average 19.35 million). Also, due to an unusually low number of caution periods early on, yesterday's race was the shortest in running time since 1995, and that was a significant factor in the year to year decline. FOX's rating peaked at a 12.0/22 during the race's thrilling conclusion (7:00-7:12pm/et). The 49th Daytona 500 nearly doubles the rating for last year's Indianapolis 500 (5.1/14).(FOX PR)(2-19-2007)"
http://www.jayski.com/pages/tvratings2007.htm

[Ray]

The other thing that's going to help Ganassi, I'm sure, is the feedback Montoya will be able to provide. Having worked with F1 engineers, I'm sure he'll be very communicative to his crew and probably teach them a thing or two about driver-engineer interaction. He's no schumi, but I'm sure he's a lot better at that than a lot of NASCAR drivers.

I assure you he's not. Just because he comes from a highly technical series doesn't mean jack. NASCAR cars are highly technical cars too. They may not have all the fancy stuff an F1 car has, but they still require good feel and good feedback. You obviously have little experience (your two whole years of watching) in NASCAR if you think someone from F1 can teach another series how their car setup and driver/crew chief interaction should be. They knew that stuff long before JPM was even born. I bet he is no better and probably worse than most at describing the behavior of a car he has limited time in. He is LEARNING, and I recognize he has great talent and great car control. But to say something so arrogant, misinformed, and ignorant is humorous. He's not better at a damn thing, except maybe making hype. That's it.

[m3_lover]

Looks like Dan Wheldon is trying to get into NASCAR too...it looks like open wheel racing is slowly dying in the states

[DaveKillens]

NASCAR is definitely the 800 pound gorilla in the US, anything else is a distant second. It's also where the really big money is at, just look at how many teams are involved. And it makes good business sense to try to get any decent US drivers into NASCAR. Don't forget that Tony Stewart was IRL's first champion, he jumped ship many years ago.
Wheldon is just giving NASCAR a look-see, he's comitted to this season's IRL. Paul Tracy did exactly the same thing last year. Didn't work out,and he re-signed for five more years in Champ Cars. Who knows, maybe Danica Patrick next.