NOVEMBER 18, 2006

Montoya shows his speed at Homestead

Juan Pablo Montoya qualified for his first NASCAR Nextel Cup race Homestead on Friday, lapping the speedway at 175.667mph to line up 29th on the 43-car grid. Pole position went to Kasey Kahne in a similar Dodge at 178.259mph. Montoya's Ganassi team mates were 11th, 23rd and 39th with Reed Sorenson leading the way in his Target Dodge. David Stremme was 23rd in his Coors Light car but Casey Mears was a disappointing 39th in the second Texaco Havoline car.

The qualifying was so close that one extra mile-per-hour (two-tenths of a second) would have lifted JPM to 15th.