Jimmie Johnson has received apologies before from Juan Pablo Montoya, but he’s tired of hearing them and the excuses behind them.
Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya Differ On New Hampshire Scuffle
As for an apology after the two drivers had another incident? Johnson is still waiting.
Johnson said Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway he’s upset Montoya hasn’t apologized to him personally after the most recent race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Johnson said it’s the third time this year he’s been spun around by Montoya nearing the end of the race.
Although Johnson only feels two of the incidents were intentional, he said there comes a time when a driver needs to “respect the people you’re racing around.”
“I’m tired of hearing apologies,” Johnson said. “I don’t want the contact and I don’t want to be raced that way. ... So there’s times where you can understand, but after three times of being turned around and hearing ‘I’m sorries,’ it can’t happen. ”
Montoya said he actually apologized to Johnson’s crew chief Chad Knaus while still in Loudon, N.H.
“If you really look at it, he had plenty of the race track at the bottom, so do I have apologize after the race? No,” Montoya said. “I think the other time that I hit him, he actually ran into the wall and I decided not to hit the wall and hit him, so it all depends on how you see it. His point of view (and) my point of view are very different.”
Asked why he would still apologize to Johnson if Montoya didn’t think he needed to, he said it was the smart thing to do.
“Why?” Montoya said. “Because you don’t want to have problems with people here.”
As for how they'll settle the argument, Johnson acknowledged that they usually talk about it – sometimes in unique ways.
"I've been in my motorhome at Darlington when he spun me out there," Johnson said. "I'm in my motorhome showering and he walked into my bus and into my shower to apologize. Then he told me I'm naked and I said, 'Well of course I am – I'm in the shower.'"
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