Montoya Continues to Lose Respect

Rewind to May in Richmond when Ryan Newman refused to give Juan Pablo Montoya an inch at Richmond. Watch it here. Rewind even further to the Sprint All-Star Showdown at Charlotte in 2010. Keep in mind, this is the race to get into the All-Star race. Watch it here. Regan Smith did not give Montoya and inch. After the wreck, Montoya blasted Smith.

Now, at Atlanta, Montoya was on the other end of a similar incident. Of course, it was later in the race, but if you are going to preach give and take, you got to abide by your own counsel. Here is the incident at Atlanta with Chase for the Championship contender Clint Bowyer. Watch it here.

At Richmond, Montoya retaliated against Newman, which led to an ugly incident in the NASCAR hauler a week later in Darlington. Of course, if you watched the video of the Regan Smith incident, Montoya was extremely condescending towards Smith in his interview.

After he did the same thing to Bowyer that he claimed was done to him at Charlotte and Richmond in previous races, this is what he had to say.

"They all get pretty stuck up because they're trying to get in the Chase and he's looking for a ride and everything. He needs to prove himself more...Call me whatever you want, but if I'm there, I'm there."

Well, Newman was 'there' at Richmond, and Montoya still took exception. Smith was 'there' at Charlotte, and Montoya threw a fit. So, when Montoya is 'there', all is well to take the guy in front of you out.

Furthermore, I find it quite humorous that a driver with two road course wins and one Chase appearance, states that a driver with double the wins, and three Chase appearances needs to prove himself more.

I mentioned in a previous piece that I had really begun to warm up to Montoya prior to this season. At first, I felt he entered NASCAR with a strong sense of entitlement because of his success open wheel racing. He was greatly humbled in 2007 and 2008. In 2009, it was fun to see him compete up front. He seemed to have finally grasped what it takes to succeed in NASCAR's top level of competition.

However, he reverted to his prior ways and his less desirable qualities have resurfaced. Montoya lost some major street credit when reports that he sicked his lawyer on NASCAR and Newman after the alleged punch in the NASCAR hauler surfaced. Supposedly, NASCAR was forced to levy a secret fine of $50,000 to Newman.

I think Bowyer had it right when he called Montoya a 'jack-ass'.

Bowyer and Newman are not the only driver to encounter on-track issues with Montoya. Kasey Kahne called him out at Infineon. Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch, and Jimmie Johnson have also had issues with Montoya in 2011.

Oh yeah, just to show that these were no isolated incidents, watch Montoya clipping another driver at Bristol last year. Watch it here.