Montoya tipped to win at Infineon

Montoya won a Busch Series road course race earlier this year in Mexico City and is expected to make his experience count once more to profit on what will be probably his best chance of winning a Nextel Cup race thus far.

"I think you're really gonna have to look at Montoya being a factor," said  Jeff Gordon, a five-time winner at Infineon Raceway, who stated also that he doesn't expect Montoya and his Ganassi team to dominate next weekend like they did in the Busch Series race in Mexico.

"I don't think there's any comparison," he added. "It was pretty obvious that they had the cars to beat in Mexico because him and Scott Pruett were very strong. Beating Scott Pruett is not an easy thing, he's tough. 

"But the competition is just so much tougher in the Cup series. That's gonna be the biggest change and with the Car of Tomorrow, you know, everybody is pretty equal."

It remains to be seen whether the Car of Tomorrow will boost or hamper Montoya's chances of victory, since his team have not enjoyed a very good record with it, a 16th place at Martinsville being the Colombian's best result with the new car in six races.

Tony Stewart, a two-time winner at Infineon, believes it will be entertaining to watch how Montoya will be able to handle the heavier Car of Tomorrow around the 1.99-mile road course.

"It's going to be very impressive," Stewart said. "I think it'll be Juan's best chance at winning a race to date, and I think it'll be very entertaining to watch. His talent is going to far outweigh the ability of the Car of Tomorrow on a road course.

"It'll be interesting to see how he'll be able to manipulate that car. Whether I'm in front of him or behind him, it'll be very entertaining to watch."

Reigning Nextel Cup Champion Jimmie Johnson believes Montoya will excel next weekend at Infineon Raceway and says the Car of Tomorrow will be more an equalizer than a problem for the Colombian against the opposition.

"He's going to do a great job," said Johnson. "He showed at the  [Mexico] Busch race that it wasn't a huge challenge for him to switch over from road course [racing] in a stock car versus road course in an F1 car. I think he'll certainly be tough.

"It's still a different format. I don't know if he has any experience at that track, but we're all learning this car of tomorrow. It's going to be relatively new for all of us to try it out. I think that would be one of his better chances to win - at the Glen or at Infineon."

Two-time Nextel Cup champion Terry Labonte, who will race the No 55 car for Michael Waltrip Racing at Infineon next weekend, believes Montoya will be a man to watch as he says the former Formula One driver has adapted quicker than he though he would to racing in stock-cars.

"I think we saw him down there in Mexico City in the Busch car; he ran just, you know, really, really well down there and was really fast," Labonte said. "So I'm sure he's going to be awful good out here at Infineon, too.

"So I think he's just going to be one of the guys that everybody will watch because, you know, first time out on the track or whatever, you won't know - it's going to be interesting to see how he does.

"And these cars are a little bit different than a Busch car, and definitely different than an F1 car. But obviously he's got a tremendous amount of talent and has adapted faster to the Cup cars than I ever imagined he would."

Juan Pablo Montoya currently sits 23rd in the Nextel Cup driver standings with two top-ten finishes as his best results to date.