Juan Pablo Montoya is a well-established name in motorsports. Throughout his career, he’s been a two-time Indy 500 champion and a multi-time Formula 1 race winner. He was also named the 2007 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year. The Colombian racer has two wins in the Cup Series as well — at Sonoma and Watkins Glen.
Advertisement
This year, he will be a part of the Cup race at Watkins Glen, driving the #50 car for 23XI Racing. The 48-year-old will team up with regular-season championship leader Tyler Reddick, who is more than happy to have Montoya on board.
There’s a big age and experience difference between the two race car drivers. Montoya comes from a different era of motorsports and has raced around the world — in various disciplines — a lot more than Reddick. So there is a lot for the #45 driver to learn from the Colombian driver. The pair had the chance to speak with each other, and Reddick stated that it was an incredible experience to know about the intricacies of racing from the veteran’s perspective.
“I’m looking forward to that experience when we get to the Glen,” he said in a recent media interaction. “He’s just going to offer a unique vantage point. A very experienced vantage point on where our cars are at on road courses. I’m really looking forward to having an experience like that and being a teammate with a driver as accomplished as him.”
The last time Montoya won in the NASCAR Cup Series was back in 2010 at the Glen. But, repeating that feat at 48 years of age would be a tough one for him to execute.
23XI owner explains the decision to get Montoya on board
The Colombian has a lot of belief in himself and believes that he can be competitive. That’s one of the reasons why 23XI Racing brought him in. The team wants to win races and Montoya is someone who can get it done. When the announcement was made, the 48-year-old made it clear that he was not looking for a job and just wanted to run races in which he could be competitive.
“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 is the champion, so we kind of hit on all of the boxes that we wanted to with that,” Denny Hamlin, owner of 23XI Racing said of the decision.
Montoya’s driving for the team came to be thanks to Mobil 1 and team president Steve Lauletta. Seeing the former Formula One World Championship contender have another go at the NASCAR stars of today will be an incredible moment for everyone.
