"I think the big picture people need to understand is we did this to make ourselves better," Montoya said. "Short-term, people might think the team is crazy. But if we didn't do this, we were never going to get any better."
Ganassi pulled the plug on the No. 40 team last week because he'd been unable to secure sponsorship for Franchitti, who was struggling through his first season in NASCAR. The 2007 Indianapolis 500 winner and IndyCar Series champion missed five races with a broken ankle, failed to qualify for two others and was 41st in the standings when Ganassi pulled the plug.
Because he was funding the car out of his own pocket, Ganassi said he had to stop running the team or risk damaging Montoya and teammate Reed Sorenson's seasons. Montoya is 21st in the standings and Sorenson is 32nd.
Had he continued running the No. 40, Montoya said he worried about the long-term affects it would have on Ganassi's entire NASCAR operation.
"It's rough because, the way I looked at it, was keep it running and two years down the line shut down the whole team," Montoya said. "Or do something about it now and make sure we're running better. I am sure once we start running good again, he'll find money to run a third car.
"But today, we're not running the way we need to be running and it never helped running a car with no sponsorship."
As long as Franchitti was outside the top-35 -- the point where cars are not ensured a spot in the field -- Montoya felt Ganassi would not be able to land a sponsor.
"They were never 100 percent certain the car was going to make the race, so I think that was really hard," Montoya said. "There's always the question of how much longer can you actually go before you make the decision, and I think Chip did the best he could to try to run that car all year.
"But they wouldn't be able to find a full-time sponsor for that car, that was the thing that did it in."
Montoya isn't sure what Franchitti will do next. He tried to call his teammate once last week, leaving him a voice mail, but had not spoken to Franchitti since the decision. Franchitti and Ganassi are supposed to talk this week about his future with the organization, and Franchitti was previously scheduled to drive this weekend's Nationwide Series race in Chicago.
"It's all about what Dario wants to do from here," Montoya said. "Does he want to keep going? Does he want to race some Nationwide and try to get into Cup again? Those are all questions he has to answer."
In the meantime, Montoya is hopeful the team morale will improve. Because 71 people lost their jobs in the closure, Montoya said it's been an emotional time.
"I think right now everybody is frustrated because they had to let go of a lot of really good people," he said. "But you have to look at the bigger picture, and right now the bigger picture is if we aren't running better, the whole team would be in trouble. It's hard on Dario on everybody, but it's business."
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Montoya's Q&A with AP Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer:
Q: You intentionally spun Kyle Busch two weeks ago in New Hampshire. What was the reaction to that?
JPM: Well, you know, when you do stuff like that you never think about if people are going to like you are not. It's the heat of the moment, he hit me, I hit him back harder. That's what went down. The weird thing is people were really happy about it. I was surprised by that, but people were really happy and excited about it. I haven't seen Kyle yet. I saw his spotter (Jeff Dickerson) and we were talking about it and laughing about it, and we were cool. So I am sure Kyle is cool, too.
Q: In NASCAR, when things like that happen, the culture is for drivers to call each other and talk it out and make it up. You have not talked to Kyle --
JPM: Am I supposed to call him?
Q: I don't know.
JPM: Well I don't know either.
Q: In any other series, is that the way it works?
JPM: In any other series I've been in, you don't talk to anybody else. And you set me up with that question. But the difference here is you've got to be beside him and race beside him all the time and you've got to respect that. But I felt he broke that with me, and I retaliated.
Q: In hindsight, would you do it again?
JPM: Yeah.
Q: OK. Was the penalty fair?
JPM: I said yes. NASCAR told me we are going to give you a two-lap penalty for what you did and I thought it was completely fair. I know what I did was wrong, but I had to defend myself.
Q: Did you see what Junior said about you?
JPM: No. What?
Q: He said, "Juan's a little firecracker man. He's a good guy, but you just don't push his buttons. You've got to respect him on the racetrack."
JPM: That's cool. I've been very good this year. I haven't wrecked anybody. And I've been wrecked by people and I haven't touched anybody. And I think that day Kyle had a frustrating day, I had a frustrating day, and we finally had a good car, a fast car, and we were running 24th and 25th. It was one of the days that you just go "Oh My God.'
Q: Have you followed the release of hostage Ingrid Betancourt and the others last week from Colombian rebels?
JPM: Yeah, I did. What happened, I read about it a little bit, I heard about it from like 100 people. It's cool. It really shows the country is getting a lot better. The country is a lot safer. You don't see a lot of kidnapping anymore. This is good publicity for Colombia. It's good to see.
Q: Betancourt was held seven years. Was this is a big deal in Colombia all this time?
JPM: Not in Colombia. Outside Colombia it was. I don't know why. In France they always protested about her, but in Colombia, people talked about it but it wasn't overwhelming. There are so many other people who have been kidnapped and are still being held.
Q: Do you ever fear being kidnapped?
JPM: No.
Q: What about your wife, family, kids?
JPM: No.
Q: What makes you feel so safe?
JPM: Because I think the country is safe enough to be there. It's a great country and I think people who visit are always surprised at how good the country is. It's no different than any other place, any other city, in the world. If you go to the wrong places, you are going to get in trouble. It's the same thing in Colombia.
Chip Ganassi shuts down Franchitti’s team
Jets add depth to backfield by signing Musa Smith
