Frustrated Montoya takes out Cup leader

LOUDON – JUAN PABLO MONTOYA'S frustration spilled over under the final caution with 20 laps to go as he intentionally spun out NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Kyle Busch in front of the packed front straightaway grandstand.

It soon started to rain and three laps later the race was called.

"I don't know what his beef is," said Busch, whose points lead was almost chopped in half as a result of his 25th-place finish. Jeff Burton, who is second in the points, was 12th. Busch's lead in the series is now 64 points as the series moves to Daytona.

The series returns here for the start of the Chase's nine races from now on Sept. 14.

Montoya was penalized two laps for the incident and it relegated him seven finishing spots behind Busch. Montoya is 20th in the points and only the top 12 make the Chase.

Officials summoned Montoya to the NASCAR office trailer after the race where he was penalized. The former Indy car star, who has also won in Formula 1 but seems to get little respect here, stood on the back of the hauler under cover of the lift gate amid pouring rain to give his side of the story.

"I'm a nice guy but I'm not an idiot," laughed the Colombian Montoya.

"Hey, you know (Busch) hit me under caution. He hit me under green," said Montoya. "I retaliated. Did I went a little bit too far retaliating? Yeah. You know they gave me a two laps penalty and I think it's OK. It's OK for what I did.

Fans watch as Juan Pablo Montoya (42) loses control and gets passed by David Reutimann (44) during the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon yesterday. (AP)

"The only thing I told (NASCAR)," said Montoya, "is they always are very careful, don't do anything under caution. I tried to get around the outside of him out of turn 2 and he crowded me towards the wall. Down the back straight he hit me braking into 3. Caution came out. Under caution he hit me again. Then I retaliated, you know.

"But I said the only reason why I did that is I just defended myself. There's a fine line on that," said Montoya.

►Kevin Provencher's Motorsports Notebook: Cheers and jeers

After the race Busch marched briskly from pit road with a swarm of camera crews and microphones reaching out toward him, the pack of reporters following. He said nothing and emerged from his team's hauler in dry street clothes to hold the impromptu news conference in driving rain.

Busch said he had "no idea" what motivated it.

"I got a run on him earlier with a about 50 laps to go and got to his outside. He kinda kept coming up a little bit. I mean I didn't turn down into him, barely touched his quarter panel. And then got by him in 3 and 4 and he run me up the race track and my left rear.

"We come to the caution flag and he thought he beat me to the caution flag," said Busch. "I was just trying to get around (Dario Franchitti), who was in front of us there. Touched (Montoya) on the door and he just turned left in front of me down the front straight away."

Neither driver was hurt, but it sounded as though from Montoya's point of view that he will no longer put up with any physicality on the race track.

"Things like that will happen," said Montoya. "It's probably not the first and probably not the last."

Busch's brother Kurt, who won the race, said he was surprised to see his younger brother pit.

"I didn't feel that was the right way to win a race to stay out and play by the rain," said Kyle of the decision to pit while 18 other drivers stayed out. The sky was dark and rain was on the way. "I didn't feel like we had a shot to hold off the guys who were going to be behind us. We did what we did to try to pass some more cars."

"Every week's different," said Kyle Busch. "You can only go as fast your car will allow you to go and this week we didn't have a very fast car ... We're in Chase contention and that's all that matters."

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Kevin Provencher covers motor sports for the New Hampshire Union Leader and New Hampshire Sunday News. His e-mail address is kprovencher@unionleader.com.

NASCAR

NASCAR Sprint Cup-Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Results

By The Associated Press

Sunday

At New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Loudon, N.H.

Lap length: 1.058 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (26) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 284 laps, 93.8 rating, 190 points, $204,950.

2. (36) Michael Waltrip, Toyota, 284, 68, 170, $209,333.

3. (30) J.J. Yeley, Toyota, 284, 68.7, 165, $143,025.

4. (8) Martin Truex Jr., Chevrolet, 284, 97.7, 160, $148,183.

5. (11) Elliott Sadler, Dodge, 284, 76.2, 155, $135,895.

6. (6) Reed Sorenson, Dodge, 284, 76.7, 150, $124,039.

7. (24) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 284, 93.9, 151, $103,975.

8. (12) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 284, 110.6, 142, $121,916.

9. (23) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 284, 107.7, 138, $140,961.

10. (2) Bobby Labonte, Dodge, 284, 84.3, 134, $127,411.

11. (19) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 284, 109, 130, $128,461.

12. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 284, 94.4, 127, $123,633.

13. (28) Tony Stewart, Toyota, 284, 123.2, 134, $132,211.

14. (3) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 284, 117.9, 126, $129,961.

15. (16) Ryan Newman, Dodge, 284, 82.9, 118, $117,850.

16. (40) Brian Vickers, Toyota, 284, 87.3, 115, $78,525.

17. (17) Carl Edwards, Ford, 284, 66.3, 112, $123,575.

18. (9) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 284, 82.4, 109, $122,241.

19. (29) David Reutimann, Toyota, 284, 68.6, 106, $77,750.

20. (43) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 284, 52.3, 108, $76,500.

21. (15) Greg Biffle, Ford, 284, 58.1, 100, $85,200.

22. (18) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 284, 96.9, 97, $91,400.

23. (39) Aric Almirola, Chevrolet, 284, 53.4, 94, $111,808.

24. (5) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 284, 103.9, 96, $84,400.

25. (27) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 284, 69.4, 88, $91,300.

26. (22) Robby Gordon, Dodge, 284, 48.8, 90, $100,058.

27. (25) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 283, 44.2, 82, $83,575.

28. (33) David Gilliland, Ford, 283, 38.7, 79, $89,433.

29. (42) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 282, 39.9, 76, $82,900.

30. (14) Kasey Kahne, Dodge, 282, 86.8, 73, $105,141.

31. (1) Patrick Carpentier, Dodge, 282, 54.5, 75, $78,450.

32. (32) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dodge, 282, 52.6, 67, $101,608.

33. (41) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 281, 37.6, 64, $83,608.

34. (4) Scott Riggs, Chevrolet, 281, 60.6, 61, $80,847.

35. (34) Terry Labonte, Dodge, 281, 34.6, 58, $70,600.

36. (21) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 281, 34.3, 55, $97,589.

37. (37) Johnny Sauter, Chevrolet, 280, 27.4, 52, $70,175.

38. (7) Dario Franchitti, Dodge, 280, 64.2, 49, $77,975.

39. (20) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 280, 34.8, 46, $115,425.

40. (35) David Ragan, Ford, accident, 272, 52.4, 43, $77,700.

41. (13) Jamie McMurray, Ford, accident, 270, 60.9, 40, $77,530.

42. (38) Michael McDowell, Toyota, engine, 209, 26.5, 37, $69,405.

43. (10) AJ Allmendinger, Toyota, oil line, 202, 58.7, 34, $69,265.

Race Statistics

Winner's Average Speed: 106.719 mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 48 minutes, 56 seconds.

Margin of Victory: Under caution.

Caution Flags: 7 for 33 laps.

Lead Changes: 9 among 8 drivers.

Lap Leaders: P.Carpentier 1-4; K.Harvick 5-43; D.Earnhardt Jr. 44-72; K.Harvick 73-87; C.Mears 88-140; T.Stewart 141-205; R.Gordon 206; J.Nemechek 207; T.Stewart 208-274; Ku.Busch 275-284.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led, Laps Led): T.Stewart, 2 times for 132 laps; K.Harvick, 2 times for 54 laps; C.Mears, 1 time for 53 laps; D.Earnhardt Jr., 1 time for 29 laps; Ku.Busch, 1 time for 10 laps; P.Carpentier, 1 time for 4 laps; J.Nemechek, 1 time for 1 lap; R.Gordon, 1 time for 1 lap.

Points Leaders

1. Ky.Busch, 2,496. 2. J.Burton, 2,432. 3. D.Earnhardt Jr., 2,352. 4. C.Edwards, 2,262. 5. J.Johnson, 2,220. 6. J.Gordon, 2,171. 7. D.Hamlin, 2,150. 8. G.Biffle, 2,119. 9. T.Stewart, 2,042. 10. K.Kahne, 2,031. 11. C.Bowyer, 2,021. 12. K.Harvick, 2,016.

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NASCAR Driver Rating Formula

A maximum of 150 points can be attained in a race.

The formula combines the following categories: Wins, Finishes, Top-15 Finishes, Average Running Position While on Lead Lap, Average Speed Under Green, Fastest Lap, Led Most Laps, Lead-Lap Finish.