IndyCar is right for Juan Pablo Montoya

Juan Montoya leads eventual winner Helio Castroneves in June 2000 at Detroit

AR1.com File Photo

Team Penske's Juan Pablo Montoya will be a man on a mission at Belle Isle this weekend.

The racetrack owes him, Montoya said, and he wants to collect.

The ex-Formula One star and CART champ started on pole at Belle Isle in 1999 and 2000, finishing 17th after crashing in his first appearance in the Grand Prix and 18th the following year when his car suffered a CV joint failure.

Montoya really should have won both races — leading 58 of 68 laps he ran in '99 and 59 of 61 completed in 2000.

"Yes, I feel like Detroit owes me," said Montoya, who joined Penske this season after running the past seven years for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series. "I should have won the two races, for sure. But, I was really happy here, though. You win some, you lose some."

At 38, Montoya is returning to open-wheel racing, which looked like a dim prospect until Roger Penske made him an offer too good to pass after Montoya lost his ride in stock cars at Ganassi in 2013.

Montoya, who won seven F1 races, including the Monaco Grand Prix, as well as the Indy 500 in 2000, couldn't be happier.

"I feel very good," said Montoya at the Hard Rock Café in downtown Detroit this week. "Every time I get in the car, I feel like my old self."

That spells danger for his fellow competitors starting today at Belle Isle when the Verizon IndyCar Series field is let loose for practice for Saturday and Sunday's "Chevy Indy Dual in Detroit."

Pole sitter Juan Montoya (C) with Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves after qualifying in June 2000 at Detroit

AR1.com File Photo

In 1999 and 2000, Montoya was blazingly fast on the island. It was a matter of the others trying to catch him if they could.

But he's older now and it's been eight years since he drove open-wheel regularly. He is seventh in the points standings. Did his time away in NASCAR hurt him as an open-wheel threat?

"I think you learn a lot," said Montoya. "I think you race a lot smarter. The only thing you have to pick up again is overtaking (in these cars). That's probably the hardest thing for me and I'm definitely getting it back."

Montoya started 10th in last Sunday's Indy 500 and finished a very respectable fifth in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet. He will be tough at Belle Isle.

"I'm not 100 percent back again," admitted Montoya. "But we are making gains every time out. At the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, I was passing a ton of people and out-braking them."

Returning to IndyCar and running wheel to wheel with his rivals has taken Montoya time and commitment. One of the bravest and most skilled open-wheel drivers of his era, Montoya isn't afraid to admit it.

"The first time I had anybody beside me this year was the start of St. Pete," said Montoya of the series season-opener on the streets at St. Petersburg, Fla. "And I was going 'Ooooh!' and hoping they would stay away from me. Now, I'm saying 'Bring it on' to them."

Montoya is looking to turn the clock back at Belle Isle over the weekend, but this time win.

"I know how hard Roger (Penske) has worked for this town and how much he cares for it," said Montoya. "So if I could give back to Roger and win for Team Penske, it would be huge."

Montoya seems genuinely enthused to have returned to open-wheel this season and run with teammates Helio Castroneves and Will Power in the IndyCar Series for Penske. He believes it beats the current F1 format.

"From a competition series, there's none better than IndyCar because the cars are so equal," said Montoya. "Imagine if the 22 cars in Formula One were all Mercedes — 22 Mercedes out there and everyone was running the same engine and some chassis. How cool would that be?

"It would be a cool show because you would not just be lapping everybody — you would be racing the hell out of the car all day long and trying to beat the other 21 cars.

"That's what IndyCar is all about." Mike Brudenell/Detroit Free Press/USA Today