Kyle Busch, Montoya differ about crash

Juan Pablo Montoya and Kyle Busch had vastly different opinions regarding what happened between the two drivers at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Sunday.

And while Busch, a five-time winner this year and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' points leader, has often been criticized for his aggressive driving style, it was Montoya who was called to the NASCAR hauler following the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup race.


Montoya was assessed a two-lap race procedure penalty, relegating the Chip Ganassi Racing driver to a 32nd-place finish after he made contact with Busch under caution.

"It's OK," Montoya said after exiting his meeting with NASCAR officials. "He hit me under caution, he hit me under green and I retaliated. Did I go a little bit too far? Yeah. They gave me a two-lap penalty and I think it's OK for what I did."

Montoya pleaded self-defense for his actions "and there's a fine line on that.

"They said they would deal with the 18 [of Busch] and I'm OK with it," he said.

The two drivers were battling just outside the top-15 when they made contact prior to a caution flag for a crash involving Clint Bowyer and Sam Hornish Jr. Busch, in what he said was an effort to avoid Dario Franchitti's car, rubbed Montoya's car briefly as they came to the caution flag.

After crossing the start/finish line, Montoya turned and spun the Joe Gibbs Racing driver.

Busch said afterward that he had "no idea" why Montoya turned into him.

"I got a run on him earlier and I got on the outside and he kind of kept coming up a little bit," Busch said. "I didn't turn down into him and just barely touched his quarter panel. Then I got by him in [turns] 3 and 4 and he ran me up the race track in the left rear.

"Then he thought he beat me to the caution flag and I was just trying to get around the 40 car [of Franchitti], who was in front of us there, and touched [Montoya] on the door ... he just turned left and spun me down the front straightaway.

"I don't know what his beef is, but obviously, NASCAR should probably fix it."

Busch wound up 25th, but leads second-place Jeff Burton by 64 points in the Cup point standings. Montoya dropped one position, from 19th to 20th.

Montoya said the two drivers hadn't experienced any prior troubles during the race, but that Busch "crowded me towards the wall" just before the altercation.

"The caution came out and under caution he hit me again," he said. "Then I retaliated. I'm a nice guy but I'm not an idiot."

Because the penalty was assessed during the course of the race, a NASCAR official said there would be no further penalty forthcoming for Montoya.