Juan Pablo Montoya has been something of a 500-mile master throughout his North American open-wheel career.
Yet heading into this weekend’s ABC Supply 500, it’s not so much preserving the historical stats record, but mainly hanging onto his points lead, which he has held for the entirety of the season.
“It’s unfortunate that we have given back some points over the last few races,” Montoya said in the team’s pre-race advance. “Our results at Iowa and Mid-Ohio weren’t anything that we could control. The No. 2 Verizon Chevy team gave me good cars and we had ourselves in decent positions to have good finishes.
“At Iowa, we went out of the race early but we were starting in the top five and had the speed to contend for the win. At Mid-Ohio, the race was playing out perfectly for us until the last caution.”
For Montoya, returning to Pocono is a return to the place where he repaid Roger Penske’s trust in him to race IndyCar.
“It is what it is, but we know that we can go to Pocono and win the race. It’s going to be very special to go back there as the defending winner and to the place where we were able to validate Roger’s (Penske) belief that I could come back over to the Verizon IndyCar Series and win after being away for so long.”
The stats below tell you how and why Montoya has dominated in 500-mile races:
| Race | Start | Finish | Laps Completed | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 U.S. 500 – Michigan International Speedway | 3rd | 2nd | 250/250 | 28 |
| 1999 Marlboro 500 – Auto Club Speedway | 3rd | 4th | 250/250 | 13 |
| 2000 Indianapolis 500 | 2nd | WIN | 200/200 | 167 |
| 2000 U.S. 500 – Michigan International Speedway | 7th | WIN | 250/250 | 39 |
| 2000 Marlboro 500 – Auto Club Speedway | 5th | 10th (blown engine) | 219/250 | 33 |
| 2014 Indianapolis 500 | 10th | 5th | 200/200 | 16 |
| 2014 Pocono 500 | 1st | WIN | 200/200 | 45 |
| 2014 MAVTV 500 – Auto Club Speedway | 2nd | 4th | 250/250 | 85 |
| 2015 Indianapolis 500 | 15th | WIN | 200/200 | 9 |
| 2015 MAVTV 500 – Auto Club Speedway | 5th | 4th | 250/250 | 5 |
| Avg. Start 5.3 Avg. Finish 3.3 | 2269/2300 | 440 |
– TEN career 500 mile Indy car races
– Four WINS
– LED in all TEN races
– Completed 98.65% of all laps – finished every race lap in 1999, 2014 and 2015. In 2000 blew an engine in the Marlboro 500.’
