The Spin at Mexico City: NASCAR's first real look at Montoya?

I've heard and read a lot about the last race incident at Mexico City in which Juan Pablo Montoya spun Scott Pruett while attempting a pass for the lead. Justifiably, almost everyone blames Montoya for the incident. I have two thoughts on the incident, one about the incident itself and one on a somewhat more general level.

First, as angry as Pruett was (and probably still is) about the spin, it was obviously not intentional. It was overaggressive, yes but Montoya didn't go into the corner with the intent of spinning Pruett out of the race. His intent was to outbrake Pruett into the corner and take the lead. In my opinion, and I know I'm in the minority here, Pruett deserves some of the blame. He knows (or should know) how aggressive a driver Montoya is; anyone who has watched him in CART or F1 knows it. Pruett, in my mind, left too much room to the inside given the aggressive nature of the driver behind him.

Second, NASCAR now sees what it got when Ganassi hired Montoya. Montoya is an aggressive (at times overagressive - see above) driver. This is not the first time that Montoya has taken a teammate out (at least once I can remember in F1) and it probably won't be the last. Given NASCAR's recent distaste for aggressive driving, they may be starting to view Montoya as a double edged sword. Additionally, he is not politically correct, he is not prone to hiding disappointment or veiling his views. His personality is something that NASCAR needs but may not necessarily want. On the other hand, could NASCAR be setting up exactly the kind of white hat/black hat or good guy/bad guy, "us versus them" rivalry between the stock car traditionalists and international interlopers that could sell tickets? I sincerely hope this is not what they are doing, but it really wouldn't surprise me if they stooped to that level.

Mac McCormick, KF4LMT
kf4lmt@comcast.net