IndyCar: Montoya angry with Carpenter following late Iowa crash (VIDEO)

By Jul 13, 2014, 12:38 AM EDT
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Juan Pablo Montoya was as jovial as can be after winning at Pocono Raceway. A week later at Iowa Speedway, he was the exact opposite after being forced into an accident with 19 laps remaining in Saturday’s Iowa Corn Indy 300.

Montoya had recovered from losing a rear wing endplate early in the race to run amongst the Top 10 late. But as he attempted to make an inside move on Ed Carpenter in Turn 3 for position, Carpenter appeared to move down.

That caused Montoya to go below the yellow line, then slide up the race track and into the wall to end his night.

Before going in for his ride to the infield care center, Montoya and Carpenter traded gestures as the latter ran by under caution. Montoya stretched out his arms as if to say ‘What the heck?’ and Carpenter raised his right hand from the cockpit as if to say ‘What did I do?’

“I got inside of him and he just – he was running high and all of a sudden, he decides to run low,” a frustrated Montoya told NBCSN (see the interview clip above).

“He’d been running every lap on the top…They all love preaching ‘safe racing’ and everything, but when you’re gonna pass them, they’re just [d-bags], you know?”

When informed that INDYCAR chose to take no action against Carpenter, Montoya vowed that “[he’ll] take some action later.”

Perhaps sensing a confrontation in his near future, Carpenter tried to strike a conciliatory tone after going on to finish fifth.

“I feel bad,” said Carpenter, the Verizon IndyCar Series’ sole owner/driver. “I certainly wasn’t trying to take him out. I knew he had been working me inside. I was struggling, I was just gonna try the low side that time. I didn’t know he was that far in there.

“Lee [Bentham], my spotter, was trying to tell me he was there, but was too late – I had already started coming down. So, my apologies. I definitely wouldn’t appreciate that if I was on the end of it. At the same time, it wasn’t intentional.

“I have a lot of respect for Juan, so hopefully we can talk about it without me getting my butt kicked.”

Montoya was credited with a 16th-place finish.

Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”