SONOMA, CALIF. — Juan Pablo Montoya is among auto racing's most daring and aggressive drivers, but even he knows that sometimes discretion is the better part of valor.
The former Indianapolis 500 winner and Formula One driver switched to NASCAR stock car racing full time in 2007. It has often been a struggle, but he scored his only Sprint Cup Series win on the Infineon Raceway road course here that season.
So when the Colombian arrived for this year's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon on Sunday, expectations ran high that he could win again on the 10-turn, 1.99-mile course.
But Montoya had cautioned before the race that, given the choice between making risky moves for the win that could backfire or bringing home a top-10 finish that could move him up in the Cup championship standings, he would choose the latter.
On Sunday he stuck to the script.
With only 11 laps left, Montoya was battling Tony Stewart for second place behind leader Kasey Kahne. But rather than force the issue with Stewart, Montoya backed off.
Kahne won, Stewart was second and Montoya finished sixth.
"You always want a little more, but it's all we got," Montoya said. "I could have probably got a third or fourth" but the drivers ahead of him "were going too aggressive and I needed to finish."
Montoya climbed to 12th in the Cup point standings after 16 races. The top dozen drivers in points after 26 races qualify for NASCAR's 10-race Chase for the Cup playoff that determines the series champion.
And Montoya, 33, wants to be in the Chase.
"I can't really complain," he said after climbing out of his red No. 42 Chevrolet prepared by his team of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates.
"It's a little disappointing" to finish sixth, but "the car just wasn't up to it," Montoya said. "It was a good points day and the bigger picture is good."
The bigger picture is key not only to Montoya but to his team, which has struggled this season after being created last fall with the merger of Dale Earnhardt Inc. and Chip Ganassi Racing.
None of their drivers made the Chase last year, so having a shot at the title this season would give the team a major boost.
In the meantime, it's ironic that Montoya labeled Sunday's front-runners as too aggressive for his liking, considering that many thought Montoya too aggressive when he joined NASCAR.
