He's not giving up the Chase

Before Sunday's race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Juan Pablo Montoya believed he had almost no chance to make the Chase for the championship. Then he finished second -- his best career NASCAR finish on an oval -- and his tune changed a bit. Montoya is in 18th place in the standings but just 200 points out of Chase contention with six races left to make the field. "I'll tell you the truth -- if we could get this kind of finish the next two races, then you have a chance," he said at Indy. With all due respect to the former Formula One star, he's not exactly been knocking down solid finishes. He won on the road course in Sonoma, Calif., in late June, but his only other top-five was back in March at Atlanta. "I am not saying we are giving up," he explained. "But it's really going to take a couple of wins and a couple of great finishes and bad finishes by the people in front of us."

-- Associated Press