FanHouse ScottPruett

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Sure, NASCAR has the high-wattage personalities. Drag racing has the raw speed and IndyCar racing can't be beat for pure, wheel-to-wheel excitement.

But this weekend's Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway represents the truest form of racing in America and is arguably the toughest 24-hour race in the world.

The starting grid is eclectic and richly-talented; the racing diverse and pure - right turns, left turns, high-speed high-banks and tricky chicanes; the conditions unique - daylight, moonlight, rain or shine.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- It may not qualify as a tire war yet, but Goodyear should be looking over its shoulder. The flares are flying.

The week before Christmas sports car champion Scott Pruett conducted a double-dog dare-you, top-secret test of Firestone tires on an ARCA car at Homestead-Miami Speedway. And more tests are certain to follow.

What's surprising is that outspoken Goodyear critic Tony Stewart wasn't the guy behind the wheel.

Boris Said was ticked, Scott Pruett didn't win again, and Kyle Busch won his third Nationwide Series race in a row Sunday in Mexico City.

In the third race at the Mexico City road course, Busch scored a win after passing Pruett and keeping second-place Marcos Ambrose at bay in the closing laps. The Corona Mexico 200 win was Busch's 14th career in the Nationwide Series.

Pruett looked to be in great shape to take his first-career Nationwide Series race until his tires started to fade after leading 36 laps in the 80 lap event. Busch threatened over his in-car radio to move Pruett out of the way in a very similar fashion to one year ago when Juan Pablo Montoya wrecked Pruett in turn one en route to victory.

Autodromos Hermanos Rodriguez again put another stellar show for the Nationwide Series, just as the track has for the past two seasons. NASCAR announced this weekend that it was highly likely that the series would renew its contract with the venue in 2009.

As much as I'm not for for NASCAR moving the Sprint Cup Series to international markets for points-paying events, I would be a big time fan of seeing a few more quality road courses on the yearly schedule.

To me, Sunday's race was pure fun all the way through as drivers beat and banged through the field all day long. Seeing cars spin without a caution makes things awful interesting, as well.

I say bring on the road courses, NASCAR. Two just isn't enough in the Sprint Cup.

On yet another night of endless Youtube'ing, I came across this video taken from an on-board camera on Michael Waltrip's car from last year's Dodge/Save-Mart 350 from Infineon Raceway in California. The clip is a little long, but it's always fun to watch these drivers turn laps -- especially on a Road Course where you can hear the throttle response.

Anyways, as the tape shows, Waltrip gets into a tussle just before the "S's" with the 40 car of Scott Pruett, and the Coors Light Dodge goes for a spin. It's a few minutes in, but wait for it.

Now I'm not trying to crack on Michael here, but rather just pointing this out because I can't for the life of me remember this incident last year. So it's got me thinking.

Here's video of the contact made in Sunday's race between the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teammates, Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Pruett.

Judge for yourselves ... Did JPM race him clean or was he too aggressive getting past Pruett?

Update: Were there were plenty of laps left for him to complete the pass? Maybe yes, maybe no. Who's to say he would have caught up with him again?

I just don't think that JPM is fully responsible for this incident. He clearly had enough room to pull ahead of him ... and then Pruett came back down. The real question is ... where the heck was Pruett's spotter?

Juan Pablo Montoya's first Busch Series win will be recorded in history books and etched in the memory of the Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates team and its fans for years to come.

The record books will remember a foreigner winning a NASCAR race in a foreign land.

The team will remember a bittersweet trip to victory lane.

Montoya stole the lead from his teammate and polesitter Scott Pruett after making contact that sent him flying with 8 laps to go in today's Telcel Motorola 200:

"We were both braking about the same ... he kinda stayed wide so I went for the inside and when I was there he turned and I had nowhere to go ... I'm really sorry for him ... but ... you know ..." *shrugs shoulders*

After the incident, Pruett restarted 17th and made his way up to a 5th place finish. Pruett retaliated after the checkers by running Montoya down and giving him a nudge. He was less than pleased:

"Of all people to take you out ... your teammate. I mean that was just no good, low, natsty, dirty driving. I can't even put it into words. It's just so disappointing. We talked about it and talked about it and talked about it in meetings ... if he was faster than me ... you know ... we can work it out and he can go ... but not take each other out. That's just bad driving."

Montoya's crew chief, Brad Parrot, wasn't too happy either. He struggled to hold back the tears during a post-race interview:

"I'm upset that we wrecked Scott Pruett. Scott's got a great team ... I'm glad we won the race, but I'm really upset that we took out our teammate ... Juan's got a long way to go ... he's a great driver, but you know ... he's gotta get his head on ... I'm not saying he don't have his head on, but we had plenty of time to get by Pruett. I'm real proud of Juan and the job this Texaco Havoline Telcel Dodge team did ... I'm excited, but then again, I feel for [Crew Chief] Brian Pattie because we've worked hard to try to build a team that can work together. It's tough."

Gonna be even tougher now.

Tecel Motorola 200 Results | Busch Series Standings

Colombian native Juan Pablo Montoya topped the speed chart in NASCAR Busch Series practice yesterday and his Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teammate Scott Pruett scored the second fastest time. Mexican natives Carlos Contreras and Jorge Goeters were also in the top 5 as they headed to qualifying.

On Sunday, Montoya and his crew chief, Brad Parrott, will be ESPN2's "In-Race Reporters." JPM will have cameras inside his car to show his face as he speaks to ESPN2 booth analyst Rusty Wallace while on the pace laps and during caution periods. Parrott will speak to booth analyst Andy Petree at various times throughout the telecast.

Montoya is excited to return to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez:

"It's an awesome track. It takes a lot of talent to go around and its tricky and needs a lot of rhythm. I hope we can have a good weekend and bring the car home this time. I see our team going higher and higher and that is the main goal."

And by "bringing the car home" he means finish a race--something he has yet to accomplish in the series so far this season. After engine trouble in Daytona and a wreck in Cali, JPM is 46th in the Busch standings--quite a feat considering there are only 35 full-time teams.

Update: The top 5 in practice are also the top 5 qualifiers.

1. Pruett
2. Contreras
3. Montoya
4. Goeters
5. Defending race champion Denny Hamlin

Lineup