Earnhardt Ganassi teammates, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray topped the speed charts on Friday, at the Brickyard.
The Colombian-born Montoya turned 179.756 mph in the second session, in steamy high 95-degree weather, only two-tenths of a mile per hour faster than his teammate, Jamie McMurray 179.526mph. Juan Pablo Montoya, who led 116 laps, of the 160-lap race last year only to fade after being penalized for a pit road speeding violation is on a mission to claim the trophy he narrowly missed out on last year. “It’s too bad we didn’t take the trophy home (in 2009), but in my mind I think anybody that is in that team knows that we had the fastest car and we had the pace to win the race,” Montoya said. “I think that counts for a lot. From one side it’s a little frustrating, but do I feel like they owe me one? No. Do I want to win it? Yeah, of course I want to win it,” he said. When Montoya, winner of the 2000 Indy 500 and former Formula One pilot, talks about “they,” he’s talking about the NASCAR officials who penalized him. “It sucked what happened and in my eyes I still don’t think that I did anything wrong. Maybe we were too close to the limit and we blew it as a team and move on. It sucks we didn’t take the trophy home, but in my mind I think anybody that is in that team knows that we had the fastest car and we had the pace to win the race that I think it counts for a lot. Sometimes people get wins that they lucked into and they get the trophy and we haven’t had one of those, but we’ve had a lot where we’ve had the car that could have won it”. Montoya has the best shot to become the first driver to win both the Indy 500, and the Brickyard 400, but, he’s not alone. Sam Hornish Jr. who drives for Penske Racing would dearly like to add a Brickyard 400 win to his Indy 500 title. It would be the first oval Cup win for both. Then there’s a dark horse, Jacques Villeneuve, winner of the 1995 Indy 500 driving for the small Braun Racing team in a Toyota. "First, we have to qualify," Villeneuve who was 42nd fastest out of 47 drivers, said. "This is not a qualified car, so that creates another level of pressure. So, we'll have to spend today on just the qualifying setup and getting used to the track to try and make the show. "That's the main issue right now. And hopefully it won't rain. Then we'll see how it goes after that. If we can have a good race, it will definitely be an important one for what happens in the future."
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