Mexico City Thoughts

A few thoughts I had while watching the Mexico Busch race, and my first viewing of the ESPN coverage.

-Juan-Pablo Montoya won a road race in the Busch Series. It was an impressive charge through the field, but let’s not get crazy now. He would have been a favorite had it been his first stock car race. He’s a better driver than any of the road course ringers, plus Ganassi has one of the top road course programs in NASCAR.

-Rusty Wallace missed the point with the Montoya-Pruett incident. He said Pruett would get over it with time. That’s fine, but Pruett only gets 3-4 chances each year to win a stock car race. If Montoya loses, he has full Busch and Cup schedules for other chances. Pruett does not and had a right to be angry. Wallace also cited that Montoya was the best car all day, so things essentially worked out. Apparently that makes everything ok. Montoya did have the best car and could have passed Pruett almost anywhere on the track. That’s what makes the incident more unnecessary. I wonder what Rusty would have said if Montoya bumped Steven Wallace out of the way.

-The first time ESPN checked in with Montoya under yellow, I thought, that’s cool. Then they did it under the very next caution and I thought, just leave his radio on the air and call it good. There are 40 other drivers plus crew chiefs to interview. Brad Parrott was interviewed several times, but they never interviewed anyone else. How about interviewing Boris Said after the race? If they are looking for entertainment, that’s the man to talk to.

-Check out Marcos Ambrose. Despite a late spin he finished 8^th at Mexico City and sits 5^th in the points. With fewer teams running the entire Busch schedule, he has a chance to finish in the top 10. He had a nice season in trucks last year and might attempt a few Cup races this year.

-In the three year history of the race, it was the finest showing for Mexican drivers. Two Mexican drivers finished in the top ten, Jorge Goeters (7^th) and Adrian Fernandez (9^th). Miguel Jordain finished 25^th. Three drivers, Goeters, German Quiroga, and Carlos Contreras, also led laps during the race.

I guess it’s time to bring the big boys back for Vegas. New surface, tire questions, and of course the normal news cycles about Junior's contract, someone hating the Car of Tomorrow, someone hating Toyota and how certain teams must qualify for races. Heck, the season is three weeks old, it's probably time for a Silly Season rumor. It should be an interesting week.