Montoya's Sprint Cup win ends frustrating run

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Juan Pablo Montoya finally had a race without a mistake, and he proved invincible.

The hard-driving Colombian erased 113 races of futility Sunday, winning a duel with Marcos Ambrose and the Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International.

"It's about time," Montoya said. "We've lost a lot of them, gave away a lot of them. It gets frustrating, everybody fighting."

Frustration mounted when crew chief Brian Pattie's pit strategy backfired in the previous two races. A late four-tire call likely cost Montoya a win at the Brickyard 400, and he finished 16th a week ago at Pocono after starting second and facing another questionable pit call.

Montoya, of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, led 74 of 90 laps and beat Kurt Busch to the line by nearly five seconds for his second career victory, the other coming on NASCAR's other road course at Sonoma in 2007, 113 races ago.

Ambrose was third, his third straight top-three finish at Watkins Glen, followed by AJ Allmendinger and pole-sitter Carl Edwards. Jamie McMurray, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top 10.

It was the first career victory for Pattie, who fought back tears after watching the No. 42 take the checkered flag.

"It's huge," Pattie said. "I still want to win on an oval. He wants to prove his point. The Brickyard was my fault. Hope this makes up for it."

Montoya made the Chase for the Sprint Cup last year, made a strong run early in the 10-race postseason and finished eighth in points. His chances of making the Chase this year vanished early; he's failed to finish seven of the first 21 races and is well out of contention.

In yesterday's race, Montoya was able to pull away on every restart, but each time, Ambrose reeled him in. With 15 laps remaining, Kurt Busch passed Ambrose as Montoya took off again, pulling away as Busch kept Ambrose at bay.

"We lost the handle on it on the last stop," Ambrose lamented. "We tried hard all day. Juan drove a heck of a race. He wasn't giving me anything. I just wore out everything trying to pass him."