Juan Pablo Montoya finally has his day in the sun, and at the legendary Brickyard....and then.....

  Juan Pablo Montoya (R) and Mark Martin...the two men that Jimmie Johnson had to beat to win Sunday's Brickyard 400 (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net

   INDIANAPOLIS
   It was a stunning call, a stunning mistake, and Juan Pablo Montoya, when he was penalized for speeding on pit road while dominating Sunday's Brickyard 400, vigorously protested his innocence.
   But after the race he shook it off, though noting "things like that can really screw up a championship."
   And Montoya and crew chief Brian Pattie are hanging in 10th in the Sprint Cup standings 20 races into the 26-race regular season, with the top 12 teams after September's Richmond race making the playoffs.
   Pattie tried to take the disappointment in stride: "The car was fast. I'm proud of my guys. We made one error.
   "But I guarantee they knew we were here. So we'll go to Pocono (next Sunday's stop). We still have to make the chase."
   Pattie said there wasn't much to say to NASCAR about the call that cost Montoya the race: "It's electronic. It's not like there is a lot to discuss. It's not like the old days where everybody is doing handheld
    "It's black and white.
     "It is what it is.
    "They did their job. Now we've got to go back and do ours."
    Felix Sabates, part-owner of the team, with Chip Ganassi, was distraught at the lost.
   "You can imagine -- we lead most of the race, and with 25 laps to go they penalize us," Sabates said.
    "I don't know if he was speeding or not. NASCAR said that he was. And they have the pictures of it. So I just want them to show it to me after the race…and if they show it to me that he was speeding, I'll be happy with that."
    The penalty cost Montoya and his team 50 points; so instead of going to Pocono this week seventh in the standings, they'll go in 10th.
    However they've still got a 100-point spread over 13th and the cut.
  
   Dale Earnhardt Jr. also had a disappointing finish. He was running well when the motor broke on lap 127 of the 160, dooming him to 36th.
    "The motor broke coming out of the pits under acceleration, so I just assume the motor broke in first gear leaving the pit stall…I could have possibly over-revved it," Earnhardt said.
   Still Earnhardt said he was glad his team "was competitive.
   "We were making some gains, adjusting back and forth, trying to get the thing right.
     "I was pretty happy with it at the end of that last run. We were just in our (fuel mileage) window to make it to the end, and pitting early, and expecting NASCAR was going to throw a couple more cautions before the end of the race. We felt we were in good shape to get a good finish."
    The finish dropped Earnhardt to 22nd in the standings, 446 points off the playoff cutoff mark with six races to go.
   
   

   
Jimmie Johnson taking the checkered flag (Photo: IMS)