Ganassi praises Montoya's approach

Ganassi, who hired Montoya almost a year a go to be his lead driver in NASCAR after the pair had previously clinched the CART title and the Indy 500, said the Colombian may help his team make the step forward they have been trying to achieve for a long time.

"We've had our share of pundits and reasons for that sort of thing over the last four or five years or something since we visited victory lane and I had a hard time finding the place," Ganassi said.

"Everybody in the organization, from the top to the bottom, the people all running things, we've all won races and we knew how to win. But we've got a guy that pushes the pedal now, pushes the button."

Ganassi praised the faith and commitment his driver has showed despite the poor results they had been achieving for the past few Nextel Cup races, which saw them drop from 13th place to 23rd in the Nextel Cup standings.

"Quite frankly, Juan's been through a lot of rough and tumble things in the last year since that fateful day when we first spoke about this," Ganassi added. "I don't want to say I ever had any doubts, but you know, every once in a while, a little bit of doubt does creep into the back of your mind.

"But [Juan] never once flinched. Never once did he have anything but winning on his mind and that's what's great about him, the fire still burns in his belly to be at the front.

"The guy just likes the action. I mean, a week or so ago he was in Eldora in a dirt car. How many people have been in the Eldora dirt and been on the streets of Monte Carlo? That just tells you the guy has the disease, he's got the fever. It's not about Hollywood, it's not about the money, it's about the action and that's what's fun. It's easy to work hard for a guy like that."

Ganassi, who has won titles in every series his team has been involved in but NASCAR, said he has been surprised by Montoya's more mature approach to racing, highlighting the change he has experienced relative to the first time they worked together nearly eight years ago.

"One of the nice things of getting to work with him again is he has matured as a race driver in a way that you could not write in a movie. He's changed quite a bit and he's a lot calmer if you can imagine that. It's surprising," Ganassi said.

"He actually came on the radio at one point and said 'You know, it's a little early to race these guys'. And I looked at Wingo, and Wingo looked at me and I was looking around and thought 'That must have been someone else's radio'. He's a changed man, all in a positive way."

Juan Pablo Montoya has given Ganassi victories in every major series the team has competed thus far. They first won 10 races together in Champcar, one in the IRL's Indy 500, one in the Rolex Series with their Daytona 24 Hours win this year, plus their recent victory in the NASCAR Busch Series in Mexico and now the Nextel Cup.