48-year-old Juan Pablo Montoya is prepared to make a return to the Cup Series this weekend through a special appearance for 23XI Racing. He will be piloting the No. 50 Toyota Camry XSE at Watkins Glen International intending to grab victory honors for himself. With the light on him, he recently spoke to The Athletic and opened up on his racing character in NASCAR.
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Asked about a run-in with a driver that the media missed, he said, “Every other racing, you rub and you drag people up the track and things like that, but it’s kind of normal. In NASCAR, the give-and-take is a little different and you need to understand that and respect it a little bit because payback is a b****.” The icon continued to express clarity about what his mindset would be at the Glen.
Competitors can expect him to race fair and be nice, but only if they are so to him. Should the aggressive and green ones — possibly Carson Hocevar or Ty Gibbs — try to play dirty they’d be in for a show on hard racing from the multiple-time Indianapolis 500 winner. Considering Montoya’s resume in different disciplines such as Formula One, IndyCar, and NASCAR, they’d be safer away from him.
He has gone to battle against the best in the 2000s and managed to hold his own. He put himself up on the level of Michael Schumacher, completely dominated the 2000 Indianapolis 500 as a rookie, and beat every NASCAR hero at the Sonoma Raceway in 2007. Although he is not a favorite to win, his return could create a telling upset with the knowledge that he has of Glen.
What does Montoya’s life look like after retiring from full-time racing?
The icon’s final start in the Cup Series came back in 2014. He continued to make sporadic IndyCar appearances till 2022. The slow life tends to get boring for drivers who’ve spent most of their lives speeding but Montoya has managed to keep himself active. He mentioned that he travels quite a lot so his bucket list of things to do is pretty much empty.
However, he does have his eyes set on a Mercedes G-Wagon to buy. He also follows motorsports avidly to have something to gossip about on his podcast. He said, “Let’s say maybe once every two days, I’ll open a browser and look under motorsport and you see what’s going on, if there’s any good gossip.”
Talking about success in racing, he says that the only aspect that matters is how personally satisfied one is with his performance. “You’re the best one to know whether you’re giving it your all or you have more room,” he explained. This Sunday will be a great platform for him to gain some personal satisfaction and possibly reward himself with a G-Wagon for the effort.
