Juan Montoya scored his debut Nextel Cup Series victory in his 17th start in NASCAR's top tier and made history in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the Infineon Raceway by coming from 32nd on the grid to win on the winding California road course.
Not only did the Colombian driver become the first non-American to win a Cup race for more than 30 years he also broke the modern era road-course record for translating the lowest grid position into victory.
After qualifying 32nd for the 110-lap race around the eleven turn 1.99-mile Infineon circuit Montoya moved steadily towards the front of the pack and engaged in some no-holds barred action with the likes of Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr and Tony Stewart before making the critical, and race winning decision to pit for the final time on lap 67.
Knowing that he had to stretch his final tank of fuel for more than 40 laps Montoya took the final restart of the day in 12th position but crucially he was fourth in line amongst those who were on the same pit strategy.
Gradually as the laps wound down and the cars who chose not to pit on lap 67 cycled into the pits Montoya moved into third place behind polesitter Jamie McMurray and Kevin Harvick on lap 85 and then set about getting to the lead whilst saving fuel at the same time.
Harvick was dispatched on lap 91 but McMurray proved to be a tougher nut to crack and it took several failed attempts before the driver of the #42 Chip Ganassi Racing Dodge finally made a move stick going into turn two on lap 101. The final nine laps were nail biting as all the leaders tried to save as much fuel as possible. For some, such as last weeks winner Carl Edwards and Hendrick Motorsports' Kyle Busch, it was too much of a gamble and both lost top five positions in the final stages as did McMurray, whose tank cried enough on lap 108.
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