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Long Pond, Pa. • Juan Pablo Montoya's contribution to the NASCAR highlight reel so far this season was his crash into a jet dryer in the season-opening Daytona 500.
Montoya finally had a bright spot that didn't involve explosions and raging fuel fires.
He turned a lap of 176.043 mph Saturday to win the pole at Pocono Raceway. The winless Montoya won his first pole since April 2011 in Richmond, Va. He hasn't won a race since Aug. 8, 2010, at Watkins Glen.
The pole was a needed lift for Montoya and his No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team. He's 21st in the standings and has yet to drive to a top-five finish.
Montoya admitted he was "shocked" he beat out Pocono qualifying stars such as Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne to lead the field in Sunday's 400- mile race.
Hamlin turned a lap of 175.795 and qualified second. It's his 12th top-10 start in 14 career Pocono races. Paul Menard, Kahne and Marcos Ambrose round out the top five. Points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. starts eighth.
Nationwide Series • In Newton, Idaho, Elliott Sadler rebounded from the disappointment of his jumped-restart penalty last week in Indianapolis to win the NASCAR Nationwide race at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night.
Sadler denied Ricky Stenhouse Jr. a fourth straight victory at the track, and increased his lead in the series standings to 18 points over Austin Dillon. —
Pennsylvania 400
P Sunday, 11 a.m.
TV • ESPN