Juan Pablo Montoya returning to Indy 500 with McLaren SP

Two-time Indy 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya will make his return in 2021 to the Greatest Spectacle in Racing after a three-year absence, racing a third Dallara-Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP.

Montoya, who won the race with Team Penske in 2015 and Chip Ganassi Racing in ’00, will be teamed with Arrow McLaren SP drivers Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist for the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500, which is scheduled for May 30 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“I’m very excited to be joining Arrow McLaren SP for the Indianapolis 500,” Montoya said in a team release. “I have some great history with McLaren from my F1 days and I’m looking forward to making some more at next year’s Indianapolis 500.”

The Colombian has five Indy 500 starts, most recently a sixth in 2017.

“Arrow McLaren SP is thrilled to have a driver of Juan’s caliber join the team for next year’s Indianapolis 500,” Arrow McLaren SP co-owner Sam Schmidt said in a release. “His experience will elevate the entire team, including our young, talented lineup of Pato and Felix. When you think that he’s only started the Indy 500 five times but won it twice, that’s impressive.”

I’m very excited to be joining Arrow McLaren SP for the Indianpolis 500,” said Montoya. “I have some great history with McLaren from my F1 days and I’m looking forward to making some more at next year’s Indianapolis 500. https://t.co/g2AdLvZDj4

— Juan Pablo Montoya (@jpmontoya) December 9, 2020

Montoya also will be racing in the Rolex 24 at Daytona next month (along with other IMSA endurance races) and in the World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans next year. He will be teamed at Indy with veteran engineer Craig Hampson (who worked with Fernando Alonso at the 2020 Indy 500).

He raced for McLaren in Formula One from 2005-06, scoring three victories before leaving to race full time in NASCAR. He raced the past three seasons for Acura Team Penske, winning the 2019 DPi title, and also won the 1999 CART championship.

“I’m delighted for Juan to rejoin the McLaren family and return to the Indianapolis 500 with Arrow McLaren SP,” Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing, said in a release. “He is an intensely competitive, highly versatile driver, with deep experience at the top level of motorsport and a big following. Having him with us at the 500 next year will be great for the team and IndyCar fans everywhere.”

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.

Juan Pablo Montoya will return to Indy 500 next year, racing for Arrow McLaren SP

Hunter Lawrence defends Haiden Deegan after controversial block pass at Detroit

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