Pattie saves Montoya's day in Indy
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Brian Pattie doesn't really come to mind when listing NASCAR's best crew chiefs, a distinction probably reserved for guys like Chad Knaus, Greg Zipadelli, or maybe even Alan Gustafson.
Pattie doesn't have their wins, championships or reputations. He doesn't have their big budgets or their unlimited resources.
What Pattie does have is Juan Pablo Montoya, and on Sunday, he might have single-handedly saved his season.
Montoya had the field covered at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where he led 116 laps while building a five-second lead over the competition. Then he was caught speeding on his final pit stop of the day, and the penalty with 35 laps to go ended his chance at a monumental victory at The Brickyard.
Simply put, Montoya melted down.
He ranted and raved, insisted he wasn't speeding and directed his missives directly at NASCAR. He blamed president Mike Helton for an errant call, criticized chairman Brian France and moaned that he should simply park his car and call it a day.
Pattie didn't flinch.
He coddled and cajoled, urged his hot-tempered driver to calm down and fretted that Montoya was inching dangerously close to the kind of language that usually lands a team in very hot water with NASCAR. Pattie knew the opportunity for his first Sprint Cup Series win — at Indy, of all places! — had just slipped away. But with his thumb at the ready to key the mike in case of an emergency need to drown out Montoya, he eased his driver off the ledge.
It was critical they not throw away the entire day, and Montoya not halfheartedly complete the closing laps or, in a kamikaze effort to race back toward the front, do something stupid that resulted in a horrendous finish.
They wound up 11th — disappointing, but not terrible — and gained points on the 13th-place driver in the standings.
Because staying inside the top 12 and making the Chase for the championship is all that really matters to Pattie.
"I have to pay attention to the big picture, even if Juan veers off once in a while like yesterday," Pattie said Monday from the Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing shop, where he was looking over data before 7 a.m.
"I understand this game and how it's played, and I know the facts and how important a win would have been to Juan, to the team, to (sponsor) Target. I was totally upset, but it's my job to not flip out and remember what we're trying to do."
Pattie has been on a mission to make the Chase for the better part of a year. He's Montoya's third crew chief in three seasons since leaving Formula One, and took over at a time Ganassi was again overhauling his NASCAR organization in an effort to catch-up to the industry leaders.
His plan covered the first 26 races, and he's certain "we won't fail, we'll be there." But there's the final 10 races this year that Pattie has yet to put into his plan, because while winning the championship is the ultimate goal, earning an invitation was the first and more pressing hurdle.
"A win would have been huge for us," Pattie said. "But we want to be able to run with Hendrick Motorsports. And we did that."
