Montoya takes out Kyle Busch ... during a caution

Blount

By Terry Blount
ESPN.com
(Archive)

Updated: June 30, 2008, 11:25 AM ET

Stew Milne-US PRESSWIRE

It was another one of those days for Dale Earnhardt Jr., left, after Jamie McMurray pounded him at the entrance to pit road.

LOUDON, N.H. -- While trying to wreck Kyle Busch on Sunday, Juan Pablo Montoya managed to wreck himself in the process near the end of the Lenox Industrial Tools 301. And he did it during a caution.

After a caution flag flew with 21 laps to go, Montoya ran into the right-rear fender of Busch's car. It caused Busch to spin and hit Montoya's car as Montoya was driving by.

"We always give each other lots of room," Montoya said of Busch. "But he went wide like I wasn't there. Then I got beside him and he started banging me like he was trying to wreck me. I looked at him like, 'What are you doing?' "

Montoya had no problem admitting he deliberately ran into Busch's car.

"Yeah. I did what he did to me," Montoya said. "I don't appreciate people who race me like that. There's a fine line and he crossed it."

Apparently, NASCAR officials felt the same was about Montoya's retaliation move. He was assessed a two-lap penalty for rough driving outside of race procedure. It dropped Montoya to 32nd in the finishing order.

Busch finished 25th, but still leads the Cup standings by 64 points over Jeff Burton.

So what caused the altercation with Montoya?

"I have no idea," Busch said. "I got a run on him earlier. I didn't turn down into him. He ran me up the racetrack.

"The caution came out and he thought he had to beat me. I touched his door and he spun me out. I don't know what his beef is."

Junior wiped out while having good run

With 30 laps to go on Sunday Dale Earnhardt Jr. was running 10th and heading into pit road, when Jamie McMurray plowed into the back of his No. 88 Chevy -- Earnhardt finished 24th.

"We were trying to pit a little early and basically just got run over," said Tony Eury Jr., Earnhardt's crew chief. "It's one of those things and we'll just go on."

McMurray, who finished 41st, said he had no idea Earnhardt was pitting.

"Certainly it's my fault," McMurray said. "Typically their spotter will say something to yours when guys pit. The spotters all get together and wave their hands or what not and the spotter never said anything. I'd been running on the apron all day. I never saw the 88."

Terry Blount covers motorsports for ESPN.com. He can be reached at terry@blountspeak.com.
ESPN Conversation

ESPN video

New Hampshire keeping two dates in '09

It's now official. New Hampshire Motor Speedway will have two Sprint Cup events in 2009.

NHMS officials said ticket renewals for the June 2009 event are in the mail and renewals for the September 2009 weekend will go out soon.

Speculation has swirled around the one-mile oval since Speedway Motorsports Inc., led by Bruton Smith, purchased the track in November 2007 for $340 million.

Many NASCAR followers thought Smith might move one of the New Hampshire Cup dates to the SMI facility in Las Vegas. The speculation increased with Smith's pending purchase of Kentucky Speedway, with some people believing Smith might move a New Hampshire race to Kentucky.

Neither scenario is happening. The race on Sunday was the 27th consecutive sellout of a Cup event at NHMS, which has 91,000 grandstand seats. The track sold the final 3,000 tickets during the past four days.

"We sold standing-room only tickets here today," Smith said. "If we add a race at Las Vegas, we will get it another way.

"I love the people here. They remind me a lot of the fans at Bristol [Motor Speedway] for their enthusiasm and their love of racing. It's like a religion here. I should have paid [former owner] Bob [Bahre] more, but don't tell him that."

Smith said he still is studying ways to improve the speedway. He wants to add lights and a larger area for campers, but he said he has no plans to add a drag strip.

-- Terry Blount

Bobby Labonte scores first top 10 of '08

B. Labonte

There were a number of surprises in the top 10 at Loudon on Sunday, and Bobby Labonte coming in 10th -- his first top-10 finish of the season -- was one of them.

Labonte started on the outside of the front row in his Petty Enterprises No. 43 and stayed in or near the top 10 the first half of the race, but had fallen back to 26th just 14 laps before the race was shortened by rain. He was one of the drivers that elected to take a pit stop late in the race rather than stay out to try the gamble that proved to be a winner for Kurt Busch. Labonte moved up to 22nd in the standings.

Labonte seemed less than impressed with his effort, though.

"We didn't get the job done today," he said. "I don't know the reason. We just didn't get it done."

Brother Terry Labonte didn't fare quite so well in the other Petty Enterprises entry. He finished 35th in the No. 45 usually driven by Kyle Petty, who is off doing TV work for TNT until the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. The No. 45 is mired in 42nd-place in the owners' standings, with almost no hope of getting back in the top 35 at 317 points down. The cars in the top 35 have a guaranteed starting spot every week.

-- K. Lee Davis