The biggest moments of Juan Pablo Montoya’s NASCAR career

Juan Pablo Montoya is one of the most versatile race car drivers on the planet. His illustrious career includes seven Formula 1 wins, reaching the top podium step with both Williams and McLaren. He also scored 30 podiums and 13 poles in just 94 starts, and finished as high as third in the World Championship. Beyond F1, he’s a two-time winner of the Indianapolis 500, winning as a rookie, and then again 15 years later. He also clinched the 1999 CART title.

The resume goes on in sports car racing as a three-time overall winner of the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona (2007, 2008, 2013). He won the 2019 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Series championship outright in 2019 with Team Penske. JPM has even been on the podium for Le Mans and won the Race of Champions. So yeah, it’s easy to say he’s pretty good. Then there’s his NASCAR stint, where he won two Cup races in 255 starts, collecting 24 top-fives, 59 top-tens, and nine poles.

Now 48 years old, Montoya will return to NASCAR in a one-off start with 23XI Racing this weekend at Watkins Glen — the site of his second and last Cup win. So, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to look back on some of the most memorable moments from his NASCAR career — both the good and the bad.

Up in flames

Okay, we’re getting this one out of the way first. Yes, the infamous jet dryer incident during the 2012 Daytona 500. The fact that it’s the first thing anyone wants to talk about whenever JPM and NASCAR are mentioned in the same sentence does a disservice to the solid career he put together there. But hey, the track did kind of burst into flames. While under caution for an unrelated incident, Montoya brought his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing machine down pit road, reporting a vibration. “Something is massively broken,” he warned, just as the team sent him back out onto the track.

Catching up to the back of the field at a high rate of speed, the rear trailing arm broke as he entered Turn 3. The car shot to the right — spinning out of control.  Directly in the path of his spinning car, up against the wall, were two jet dryers. Montoya slammed into the back of one of the trucks, destroying his car and spilling somewhere around 200 gallons of jet fuel across the track. It quickly ignited, resulting in a massive inferno that stopped the race.

It was very unfortunate timing and a freak accident unlike anything we’ve seen before or after it. The driver of the Jet dryer, Duane Barnes, and Montoya…