Montoya wins at The Glen

• NASCAR SPRINT CUP

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - Juan Pablo Montoya finally had a race without a mistake, and he proved invincible.

The hard-driving Colombian erased 113 races of futility Sunday, winning a duel with Marcos Ambrose and the Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International.

"It's about time," Montoya said after celebrating with his crew in Victory Lane. "We've lost a lot of them, gave away a lot of them. It gets frustrating, everybody fighting. There's so many things I have to learn. I still make a lot of mistakes. It's experience. We've just got to learn from it."

Frustration mounted when crew chief Brian Pattie's pit strategy backfired at the previous two races. A late four-tire call likely cost Montoya a win at the Brickyard 400, and he finished 16th a week ago at Pocono after starting second, another questionable pit call the culprit that led to harsh words over the radio.

A prerace talk at Watkins Glen with team co-owner Chip Ganassi helped clear the air. Montoya went out, withstood repeated stalking and challenges from Ambrose and won going away.

Montoya led 74 of 90 laps and beat Kurt Busch to the line by nearly 5 seconds for his second career victory, the other coming on NASCAR's other road course at Sonoma in 2007, 113 races ago. Montoya gave

Earnhardt Ganassi racing just its third victory of the season.

Ambrose was third, his third straight top-three finish at Watkins Glen, followed by AJ Allmendinger and pole-sitter Carl Edwards. Jamie McMurray, Tony Stewart, Kyle Busch, Jeff Burton and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top 10.

It was the first career victory for Pattie, who fought back tears after watching the No. 42 take the checkered flag.

"It's huge," Pattie said. "I still want to win on an oval. He wants to prove his point. The Brickyard was my fault. Hope this makes up for it. Trophies mean a lot. It's pretty cool."

Montoya made the Chase for the Sprint Cup last year, made a strong run early in the 10-race postseason, and finished eighth in points. His chances of making the Chase this year vanished early. He's failed to finish seven of the first 21 races and is well out of contention.

"Last year, we were so hung up on making the Chase that it was all about numbers, it wasn't about being fast or slow," said Montoya, who dominated the 2009 Brickyard 400, only to lose a chance at his first victory on an oval by speeding on pit road. "It was about bringing the car home every week."

At Watkins Glen International

Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Lap length: 2.45 miles

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (3) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 90 laps, 149.8 rating, 195 points, $247,306.

2. (5) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 90, 114.3, 170, $185,323.

3. (11) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, 90, 126, 170, $161,223.

4. (4) A J Allmendinger, Ford, 90, 117, 160, $144,701.

5. (1) Carl Edwards, Ford, 90, 112.1, 155, $140,023.

6. (2) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 90, 109.1, 155, $124,429.

7. (6) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 90, 102.5, 146, $118,548.

8. (10) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 90, 88, 142, $127,956.

9. (22) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 90, 89, 138, $113,715.

10. (16) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 90, 89.4, 134, $120,251.

11. (20) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 90, 93.8, 130, $112,851.

12. (19) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 90, 86.1, 132, $106,704.

13. (31) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 90, 76.1, 124, $116,901.

14. (12) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 90, 83.3, 121, $79,225.

15. (25) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 90, 78.1, 118, $70,000.

16. (23) Paul Menard, Ford, 90, 77.2, 115, $76,975.

17. (36) Kasey Kahne, Ford, 90, 65.4, 112, $113,190.

18. (33) Andy Lally, Chevrolet, 90, 50.5, 109, $68,450.

19. (24) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 90, 57.4, 111, $84,475.

20. (32) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 90, 53.4, 103, $94,985.

21. (17) Patrick Carpentier, Ford, 90, 60.1, 100, $77,025.

22. (28) Max Papis, Toyota, 90, 53.9, 97, $67,775.

23. (30) David Reutimann, Toyota, 90, 58, 94, $98,206.

24. (7) Greg Biffle, Ford, 90, 86.2, 91, $74,575.

25. (35) David Ragan, Ford, 90, 48.6, 88, $74,850.

26. (40) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 90, 52.8, 85, $74,100.

27. (43) David Gilliland, Ford, 90, 39.4, 82, $84,635.

28. (9) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 90, 67.3, 79, $117,278.

29. (38) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 90, 39.5, 76, $73,050.

30. (41) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 90, 34.2, 73, $80,473.

31. (42) Kevin Conway, Ford, 90, 32.1, 70, $64,250.

32. (34) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 89, 60.5, 67, $71,025.

33. (18) Joey Logano, Toyota, 88, 64.4, 64, $99,065.

34. (27) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, suspension, 84, 48.2, 61, $69,750.

35. (29) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet, 84, 41.3, 58, $61,600.

36. (15) Robby Gordon, Toyota, engine, 72, 52, 55, $75,998.

37. (14) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, accident, 70, 81.2, 52, $81,100.

38. (13) Boris Said, Toyota, accident, 65, 78.2, 49, $102,573.

39. (37) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, transmission, 54, 28.9, 46, $60,975.

40. (21) Ron Fellows, Chevrolet, suspension, 46, 45.4, 43, $60,840.

41. (39) P.J. Jones, Toyota, fuel pump, 36, 32, 40, $60,670.

42. (26) Michael McDowell, Toyota, electrical, 35, 32.7, 37, $61,050.

43. (8) Scott Speed, Toyota, engine, 28, 50.2, 34, $72,501.

Top 12 in Points: 1. K.Harvick, 3,210; 2. J.Gordon, 3,025; 3. J.Burton, 2,895; 4. Ku.Busch, 2,892; 5. J.Johnson, 2,882; 6. D.Hamlin, 2,872; 7. Ky.Busch, 2,866; 8. T.Stewart, 2,865; 9. C.Edwards, 2,821; 10. M.Kenseth, 2,806; 11. G.Biffle, 2,743; 12. M.Martin, 2,641.

• IRL

Dario Franchitti held off a hard-charging Will Power to win the IndyCar race at Mid-Ohio in Lexington, Ohio.

The victory was Franchitti's second of the season. He won the Indy 500 in May.

Franchitti beat Power out of the pits twice in the race, giving him just enough room to beat Power by 0.5234 seconds, the third-closest road/street finish in series history.

At Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course

Lexington, Ohio

Lap length: 2.258 miles

(Starting position in parentheses)

1. (2) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

2. (1) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

3. (6) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

4. (14) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

5. (5) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

6. (7) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

7. (19) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

8. (10) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

9. (9) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

10. (4) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

11. (15) Bertrand Baguette, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

12. (16) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

13. (21) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

14. (13) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

15. (24) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

16. (18) J.R. Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

17. (20) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

18. (12) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

19. (17) Adam Carroll, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

20. (25) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

21. (22) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 85, Running.

22. (23) Francesco Dracone, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running.

23. (27) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 81, Running.

24. (26) Jay Howard, Dallara-Honda, 38, Contact.

25. (3) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 28, Contact.

26. (8) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 22, Contact.

27. (11) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 22, Contact.

Lap Leaders: Power 1-25, Tagliani 26-55, Franchitti 56-60, Hunter-Reay 61, Franchitti 62-85.

Points: Power 461, Franchitti 420, Dixon 379, Briscoe 352, Castroneves 340, Hunter-Reay 336, Kanaan 304, M.Andretti 266, Wilson 262, Wheldon 259.