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Richmond, Darlington and Charlotte. They're three stops each May in the Sprint Cup Series that have not been among Juan Pablo Montoya's favorites since he joined NASCAR fulltime in 2007.

This year is different and because of his dramatic turnaround, he remains on the cusp of qualifying for the first time for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Sunday's Autism Speaks 400 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway marks the halfway point of the qualifying season, 26 races used to set the Chase field. Entering the race, Montoya is 14th in the series standings, but only 31 points behind 12th, the cutoff to make the Chase. "I think if you look at where we were last year, we were actually not that bad in points when (we changed crew chiefs). But our car was nowhere near where we are right now," said Montoya. "Also I think the performance of the car and the company moved a long way. That has not been more evident than in his performances this month.

At Darlington, Montoya finished 20th, his career-best at the track. At Richmond, a career-best 10th. And Monday, he managed a career-best eighth at Charlotte, a track where he had not previously finished a race on the lead lap.

"We're coming to some very good tracks for Juan and this was our second-worst track," said Montoya's crew chief, Brian Pattie. "Charlotte, obviously, has not been good for us if you look on the stat sheet.

"To come out of here with an eighth place finish, that's great."

In fact, Montoya, who drives the No. 42 Chevrolet for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, appeared to have a car capable of contending for the win.

He ran in the top-five much of the second half of the race and likely would have ended there were it not for three teams electing not to pit on the final round of stops before rain halted the event.

"I'm excited for Dover and the month of June," said Pattie. "We had the month of May circled a long time ago as far as getting through these races without losing too much.

"We've got time. It's just one week at a time. There's still a long ways to go."

Coming up for Montoya are races at Dover; Pocono, Pa.; Michigan; Sonoma, Calif.; and New Hampshire. His only previous Cup win came on the road course at Sonoma in 2007, and he's finished 12th or higher at Dover in two of his four races there.

"As long as we keep running the way it is, we have two good road courses and you know I think we have a good chance of winning there," Montoya said. "I'm pretty optimistic that we have the chance of making the Chase. It's not going to be easy, but the potential is pretty encouraging."[[In-content Ad]]

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