Results tagged “Juan Pablo Montoya” from Haddock in the Paddock

The Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley driven by Juan Pablo Montoya, Dario Franchitti, Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas won the Rolex 24 at Daytona, giving Ganassi his third straight win in the 24-hour endurace race.
Jimmie Johnson, driving the No. 99 Lowe’s/GAINSCO Pontiac Riley with co-drivers Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty and Jimmy Vasser, finished second. Kurt Busch, in the No. 9 Penske-Taylor Racing Pontiac Riley with drivers Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, was third.
Ganassi's team won the race with a three-lap lead. It was the first time in the history of the race that a team has won the overall portion of the Rolex 24 three straight years.
Montoya and Franchitti will be racing for Ganassi's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team in 2008.
“It’s was pretty hard until the last stint,” said Montoya, who was the Cup rookie of the year in 2007. “We were pretty close with the 6 car. They had a problem and after that it was more of bringing the car home.”
The No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley was leading the race, but in the 21st hour, it was knocked out of the race with suspension problems. The No. 6 car had to pit to make repairs. Montoya was driving the Ganassi car when it took the lead and held it for the final three hours of the race.
“It’s been a helluva year,” Franchitti said. “These guys, the preparation they put into this car is the reason why we’re here. We just tried to stay out of trouble and here we are -- bloody brilliant.”
Franchitti, the winner of last year's Indianapolis 500 and Indy Racing League IndyCar Series championship while driving for Andretti Green Racing, will be making his Cup debut with Ganassi in next month's Daytona 500.
Pruett, a road-course specialist in Cup races in recent years, won his third career Rolex 24.
“This is over the top to come here and win this thing overall, now back-to-back and three in a row for Chip,” said Pruett, who was behind the wheel for the checkered flag. “Wow, this is unbelievable.”
One other driver of note: actor Patrick Dempsey, making his first start in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, finished 39th overall. He was on a team with drivers Charles Espenlaub, Joe Foster, Romeo Kapudija and Scott Maxwell.
"We had a lot of bad luck but the team has really rallied to keep the car out there,” Dempsey said. “We wanted to finish this race. We had a great time and I can’t wait to do it again.”