Happy for Roger Penske, happy for Team Penske – Juan Pablo Montoya’s Autoweek blog

YOU THINK WINNING THE INDY 500 IS HARD, TRY KEEING UP WITH THE POSTRACE MEDIA BLITZ 

We had a good week, a good month for Team Penkse to be honest. People heard me screaming in the Verizon Chevy after winning the Indy 500. I still haven't gotten my voice back. 

It’s been a busy couple of days since the 500. The easiest part of this whole thing, to be honest, is during the race. I did a lot of media -- we had to be at "Good Morning America" at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, and we did Fox Business, CNBC, CNN, and many, many more shows and interviews over the two days -- and we had good laughs with a lot of them. 

We did so much. "Good Morning America" -- that was pretty cool. "Good Day New York" -- you name it, we did it. We did a ton of media. We even did the New York Stock Exchange and got to ring the bell. There's so much stuff, and you don't even remember half of the stuff you've done. 

After I won in 2000, I don't remember it being this crazy. I do remember going to a New York Yankees game and throwing out the first pitch. That sucked. To be honest, I had never thrown a baseball in my life. I was told to throw it hard, and I did. It went about 10 feet above the catcher's head and all the way to the fence in the back. 

We didn't get to do "The Late Show" this time, because Dave (Letterman) retired, but I was lucky enough to do David Letterman quite a few times over the years. He was good. He was really good for our series. 

Getting back on the track in Detroit on the road course for the Chevy Belle Isle Grand Prix should be OK. We've got quite a bit of media and appearances to do there, too. It's Roger Penske's home race and Chevy's home race. It's exciting. My teammates Helio Castroneves and Will Power won here last year. I qualified in the top six here, so it's exciting. We'll see what it brings. 

People ask me if I'm back. You may not believe me, but I'm the same guy who raced in NASCAR. It's just now I'm with a really good team in a really good car. If you look at history of the team I was with in NASCAR, in 12 years of the Chase, you know how many drivers have been in the Chase for that team? One. Me (in 2009). The NASCAR Cup Series is a tough series to compete in. The top teams are the top teams for a reason. We had good years, but to maintain is really hard. 

As for this week, all the extra media and extra appearances after the win are all worth it. It's great on a personal level, it's great for our sponsors Verizon, Chevrolet, Hawk performance, PPG -- all the primary sponsors on the car. It's great for the sport, great for Roger and great for IndyCar. The win is not just about me, it's about the team. We all work together. 

Am I happier that I was the guy winning the race? Of course I am. But I would have still been happy if someone else on our team had won it. We all know how big the Indy 500 is to Roger, and to be a part of that is huge. 

By Juan Pablo Montoya

Fonte: www.autoweek.com

Muito bacana este texto do Montoya contando como foi a vida pós-vitória na Indy 500 e todo o trabalho insano de mídia que ele teve que fazer. Só de ler eu já cansei! rsrsrs... Mas faz parte da brincadeira e como ele venceu, fazer tudo isto é prazeroso.

Gostei também da parte em que ele fala sobre continuar sendo o mesmo, e aproveita para comentar sobre a experiência na Nascar.

Beijinhos, Ludy