23XI Racing announced last week that 48-year-old Juan Pablo Montaya would be jumping into the team’s #50 Toyota Camry XSE at Watkins Glen in September. The veteran returns to race in the Cup Series after a decade all thanks to the team’s partner Mobil 1 and president Steve Lauletta. Speaking to the press at Richmond before last Sunday’s race, Denny Hamlin revealed how the association came to be.
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With Mobil 1 approaching its 50th anniversary, it wanted to showcase certain drivers that it had connections with. Lauletta had then got in touch with the icon and moved things along with the help of the company’s F1 ties. Hamlin said, “They talked about up-and-coming ones, along with champions of motorsport. We did that with (Kamui) Kobayashi and obviously, Corey (Heim), on the young side.”
Juan Pablo Montoya receives his trophy at the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix pic.twitter.com/JiH7wh7B5Z
— f1 clips 🏁 (@f1clipshow) August 13, 2024
“Juan is the champion, so we kind of hit on all of the boxes that we wanted to with that.” Montoya is a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner who was also the 2007 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year. He secured two wins over 255 starts in the Cup Series. He picked out Watkins Glen as the venue for his return since he believed that he had spent significant time racing there.
Hamlin continued to express that the icon was still competitive despite his age and could put up a fight from behind the 23XI Racing car. “I thought it was a great collaboration between 23XI Racing and Mobil 1,” he concluded. Mobil 1 served as the sponsor for the #50 entry earlier this year when Kobayashi and Heim drove it. It will do so for the entry’s final race of the year as well.
“I’m not looking for a job”
The biggest reason why Montoya chose to oblige to Lauletta’s request is that he still loves racing. “People forget why I raced. I raced because I love racing. If I didn’t think I could be competitive, I would not do it,” he told the press. “I’m at a point in my career that I’m not looking for a job … but an opportunity like this comes along and I think I can still be really competitive and have a shot at it. So why not?”
He has raced at Watkins Glen multiple times with IMSA and with IndyCar. He added that he knew the track well and that he expected to have fun racing on it. The Cup Series car that he last drove is nothing similar to what is raced today. Following a test drive in a simulator he noted that the NextGen car lacked horsepower but felt a little better to drive. Hopefully, he will adjust well to it before it’s D-Day.
NASCAR is scheduled to visit Watkins Glen International next month for Go Bowling at The Glen. The 220-mile-long event kicks off on Sunday, September 15, 2024, at 3:00 pm ET.
