Montoya shines on Atlanta oval

The Colombian ran 184 of the 325 laps of the Cup race in the top ten and moved into the top five in the last 100 laps. He was the fastest driver on track at various stages of the race and looked very confident running a higher line on the banking than all of his rivals.

He ran as high as fourth and looked a contender for victory in the last restart until he brushed the wall trying to overtake eventual winner Jimmie Johnson on the outside of Turn 2.

"The last restart, I thought I had Jimmie and I went for the outside, had a great run and just ran out of room," Montoya said after the race.

"It's just one of those things where you go to the wall, wheel on, just wide open hoping you can make it and just run out of road. I damaged the fender and Jeff passed me but it's good. The best result before this is like 19th. I think we're going in the right direction."

Montoya had never run before at the Atlanta Motor Speedway but confessed he likes the track more than all the others he has raced at so far, because it allows for close racing.

"I totally love this track. You can really race. I was really comfortable when the car was moving. That's one of the biggest things for me.

"The way the car was stepping out before with the harder tyres was just a lot more unpredictable and I wasn't that comfortable with it, where here, you just put wheel and you keep going with it."

Before the last caution of the race came out, Montoya was raced by Jeff Gordon who was a lap down and trying to get it back. The former F1 driver was critical of Gordon, claiming that their battle hampered his chances of an even better result.

"I thought we were catching Matt [Kenseth] a little bit and Jeff caught me and started running behind me and it was getting me really loose in. I started losing the whole momentum and he was starting to run beside me every straight.

"I don't know what he was doing. I don't know if he was racing with the 5 to try to get the Lucky Dog. That kind of screwed us a little bit but I guess he's trying to do his own race as well."

Jeff Burton, who finished fourth ahead of Montoya, overtaking him after he brushed the wall, went to congratulate the Ganassi driver immediately after the race. Montoya appreciated the gesture.

"I think it's been great. I've been very respectful of them. I think they are great drivers. They are making my life tough. It's hard work.

"Something that's amazing is how clean they race. It's great. You get a run, they'll give you room. They get a run on you, you've got to give them room and you learn to play that way and it just makes the racing awesome."

Asked if he had watched the Australian Formula One Grand Prix, Montoya said he didn't watch the whole race.

"No. You watch the start, by lap 3 Kimi [Raikkonen] had like six seconds. What else are you going to watch? I could predict the end of the race."