Juan Pablo Montoya

NASCAR made that proclamation before the beginning of the season, hoping that allowing drivers to police themselves might create some old-fashioned rivalries and spice up a sport accused of being too "vanilla" in recent years. When Carl Edwards bumped Brad Keselowski in retaliation for earlier contact in Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, he set off a chain of events that started with Keselowski's rollover crash and seemingly ends with a sentence of three races on probation. While th  

Perhaps if your friends are Camilo Villegas, Juan Pablo Montoya and Juan Valdez, this would be like winning the Colombian trifecta. These men are probably the three most popular legal exports out of Colombia. So southwest I went and the trip was well worth it.

We have an opportunity, behind these events, to give exposure to our country and to charity. These events help a great deal to create funds and draw attention to foundations that help lots of needy people   -Camilo Villegas

 

There's nervous and then there's Steve Addington nervous. Sitting atop the pit box with your driver in the lead and the field lined up for a late restart can be a bit unsettling. Addington, crew chief for Penske Racing driver Kurt Busch admits as much, saying, "I used to get so nervous that I'd want to puke after his driver won the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

I used to get so nervous that I’d want to puke after his driver won the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Live through the situation often enough, though, and you come to a realization.   -Steve Addington

 

The resurgence of RCR has Kevin "Happy" Harvick in the points lead, with top 10's in all four races. His teammates Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton, are 5 th and 6 th respectively, just 106 points out of the top spot. Also with Dale Jr. lurking, we may just be looking at 1/3 of the Chase spots going to HMS.  

 

Juan Pablo Montoya was 21st after four races last year and was 67 points out of 12th. He had an average finish of 12.5 the remaining 22 races before the Chase to make it. Ryan Newman was 32nd after four races last year and was 151 points out of 12th.  

1. The Carl Edwards-Brad Keselowski incident has been so far-reaching that it's overshadowed the drivers who managed to cross the finish line in Atlanta and reduced Kurt Busch 's victory to a footnote. If the winner has become an afterthought, then strong finishes by a trio of former open-wheel drivers will barely produce a blip on NASCAR Nation's collective radar screen.  

You can't miss it at this weekend's big golf tournament at Doral, the human mass of yellow, blue, red and noise undulating around the Blue Monster course like a giant Colombian flag. But what makes the gallery following Camilo Villegas isn't size, noise or color. And it isn't just love of the game or appreciation of excellence, though Villegas leads the PGA Tour in scoring average this year and is second in putting and driving distance.

I'm honored to be able to represent my country   -Camilo Villegas

 

Camilo Villegas, Columbia, South America's poster child for golf, won the Honda Classic in Florida on Sunday, his third PGA Tour victory. He beat Anthony Kim by five shots. Literally minutes before, in his home country, American veteran golfer Steve Pate won the first Nationwide Tour event in South America ever.

I probably would not have written that script but it was nice to have played well towards the end.   -Steve Pate