He's back: Juan Pablo Montoya wins first IndyCar race in 14 years at Pocono (VIDEO) - MotorSportsTalk

The comeback is complete.

After racing in Formula One from 2001-2006 and NASCAR from 2007-2013, former Indy 500 and CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya returned to IndyCar racing this season.

His peers believed that it would only be a matter of time before Montoya recaptured his old magic, and sure enough, the Colombian has done just that by winning today’s Pocono IndyCar 500 at Pocono Raceway – his first IndyCar victory in 14 years (Sept. 17, 2000, Gateway Motorsports Park, Madison, Ill.).

Among the first things Montoya did in Victory Lane was thank team owner Roger Penske for giving him the opportunity to compete again in IndyCar.

“I want to thank Roger for believing in me – after how many years out of open wheel, to come back, he believed I could do it,” Montoya told NBCSN’s Kelli Stavast. “And here we are. It’s awesome.”

After the first 158 laps ran under green (a new Verizon IndyCar Series record for a 500-mile race), Graham Rahal spun and made contact with the Turn 2 wall to bring out the first yellow of the day. Then on the restart at Lap 166, Montoya battled Team Penske teammate Will Power for the lead.

One lap later, the encounter led to a broken front wing endplate for Montoya. But he was able to get past Power with no visible decline in performance from his No. 2 PPG Automotive Finishes Chevrolet.

“Just a little more understeer,” Montoya said of how his car reacted after the incident. “I had to do it. It was one of those moves – I mean, you either do it or you don’t do it. That was the winning move, so I had to do it.”

Montoya gave up P1 in order to pit with 14 laps left, but when Josef Newgarden and Tony Kanaan couldn’t make their fuel strategies work in the final 10 laps – both pitted together on Lap 161 and did so again just before the restart to top off – Montoya returned to the front with four laps to go.

It was academic from there as Montoya went on to beat Penske teammate Helio Castroneves by 2.3 seconds. Andretti Autosport’s Carlos Munoz claimed the final spot on the podium, while Ryan Briscoe and Scott Dixon, both of Chip Ganassi Racing, finished fourth and fifth respectively.

As for Power, he once again ran afoul of Race Control on Lap 172 when he battled Castroneves down the front-stretch for position. Power appeared to block the Brazilian, and with 25 laps to go, Race Control black-flagged him and forced him to the pits for a drive-through penalty.

He ultimately finished 10th, enabling Castroneves to pull even with him atop the Verizon IndyCar Series championship standings. Prior to today’s race, Power had led Castroneves by 39 points.

“I don’t know what to say – another penalty, another drive-through, another really good opportunity lost,” said Power, who has been called multiple times for various on-track violations this year.

Castroneves effectively put his hands up when asked about Power’s penalty.

“Unfortunately, I’m not the one that makes the calls,” he said. “But I think we’re really pushing hard. We’re fighting for the championship. In the end, it’s not my call.”

He was more effusive, however, about Montoya’s victory.

“That guy is unbelievable – coming back after [14] years and winning a race,” he continued. “He did a great job. As soon as he signed [with Team Penske], I knew he would be an asset – and a headache – for us.”

VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES – POCONO INDYCAR 500
Official Results
Order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, team-engine, laps completed, reason out (if any):
1. (1) Juan Pablo Montoya, Penske-Chevy, 200, Running
2. (7) Helio Castroneves, Penske-Chevy, 200, Running
3. (3) Carlos Munoz, Andretti-Honda, 200, Running
4. (10) Ryan Briscoe, Ganassi-Chevy, 200, Running
5. (15) Scott Dixon, Ganassi-Chevy, 200, Running
6. (11) Simon Pagenaud, Schmidt-Honda, 200, Running
7. (12) Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt-Honda, 200, Running
8. (21) Josef Newgarden, SFHR-Honda, 200, Running
9. (5) Marco Andretti, Andretti-Honda, 200, Running
10. (2) Will Power, Penske-Chevy, 200, Running
11. (8) Tony Kanaan, Ganassi-Chevy, 200, Running
12. (6) James Hinchcliffe, Andretti-Honda, -1 lap
13. (13) Ed Carpenter, ECR-Chevy, 199, -1 lap
14. (16) Justin Wilson, Coyne-Honda, -1 lap
15. (19) Sebastian Saavedra, KV/AFS-Chevy, -1 lap
16. (18) Sebastien Bourdais, KVSH-Chevy, -1 lap
17. (17) Charlie Kimball, Ganassi-Chevy, -two laps
18. (9) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti-Honda, Lap 181, Running
19. (14) Graham Rahal, Rahal-Honda, Lap 157, Contact
20. (20) Carlos Huertas, Coyne-Honda, Lap 89, Electrical
21. (4) Takuma Sato, Foyt-Honda, Lap 25, Electrical
22. (22) Jack Hawksworth, Herta-Honda, 0, Did Not Start

Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 202.402 mph
Time of Race: Two hours, 28 minutes, 13.1798 seconds
Margin of victory: 2.3403 seconds
Cautions: 1 for 6 laps
Lead changes: 16 among 5 drivers

Lap Leaders
Power 1 – 30
Montoya 31 – 32
Power 33 – 49
Kanaan 50 -58
Power 59 – 61
Montoya 62 – 64
Kanaan 65 – 87
Montoya 88 -94
Kanaan 95 – 117
Montoya 118 – 125
Bourdais 126
Kanaan 127 – 147
Power 148 – 166
Montoya 167 – 187
Newgarden 188 – 194
Kanaan 195 – 196
Montoya 197 – 200

Point Standings
Power 446
Castroneves 446
Pagenaud 402
Montoya 391
Hunter-Reay 388
Munoz 340
Andretti 325
Dixon 297
Briscoe 285
Bourdais 271

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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

He’s back: Juan Pablo Montoya wins first IndyCar race in 14 years at Pocono (VIDEO)

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

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