Ganassi meeting gives Montoya a chance to vent

Juan Pablo Montoya requested a meeting with his boss and got it the day before the Indianapolis 500, when owner Chip Ganassi flew to North Carolina to talk with his emotional driver. The early morning meeting Saturday at the team shop gave Montoya the opportunity to express his frustrations over the race team’s direction. Crew chief Jimmy Elledge had been fired earlier in the week—a move Montoya vehemently opposed—and the driver entered Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 with his third crew chief in a month.

Finally face-to-face with Ganassi, Montoya voiced all his concerns.

“I told him everything I was thinking and how it was," Montoya said. “The hope of the meeting is that everything that has happened turns into results. And if he was hoping he could just come here and calm me down, well, I need to run better. That’s what will calm me down."