Johnson: Montoya partly to blame for NASCAR Sprint Cup Dover penalty
Jimmie Johnson admitted he was frustrated by his penalty in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Dover race, as he reckons Juan Pablo Montoya was partly to blame for it
Johnson was shown the black flag for jumping the final restart while he was fighting for victory with Montoya, who was leading the event at that point.
Montoya should have crossed the finish line in first after the restart, but Johnson was leading by around two cars' lengths instead.
Johnson had to serve a drive-through penalty that dropped him down the order. He finished the race in 17th.
The five-time champion reckons Montoya was simply too slow at the restart.
"Whatever happened, he [Montoya] just did not go. At a certain point I didn't know if he was even under power," Johnson said.
"I wish I had handled it differently. But [if he hadn't gone] I would have been passed by at least the 42 [Montoya] if not two or three others.
"Once you get up to speed and the pack gets rolling it's real hard to give it back and have it be fair for everyone.
"The issue he had was so big I didn't know if he lost power or what. Eventually I had to get going and was called on it. I'd just be wasting air talking about it.
"There's always a judgment call in pro sports, it doesn't matter what the sport is. Our sport doesn't have many opportunities for that, but today we did."
Montoya claimed Johnson was simply over-optimistic with his start.
"Jimmie was laying off nearly a car length from me and I knew he wanted to jump the start," said Montoya after finishing in second position behind Tony Stewart.
"I backed off a little bit for us to line up and he didn't want to do it.
"When we got to the line I think he wanted to time it and he timed it too well. He wanted to get the jump on me and he just jumped it too well."
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| Series | NASCAR |
| Author | Pablo Elizalde |
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