The upcoming Go Bowling at The Glen is set to mark the third and final appearance of 23XI Racing’s No. 50 “all-star” entry for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. For the event, the entry will feature a familiar face returning to a Cup Series grid for the first time in a decade as Juan Pablo Montoya will assume the reigns of the entry at a road course venue where he achieved his latest NASCAR triumph 14 years ago.
Montoya, a native of Bogota, Columbia, makes his return to the Cup Series level since he last competed in the series at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2014 and as a full-time competitor in 2013. He made his series’ debut during the 2006 season-finale event at Homestead-Miami Speedway before campaigning on a full-time basis with Chip Ganassi Racing the following season.
Since the transition to full-time NASCAR competition, Montoya proceeded to notch two career victories in the sport’s premier series, with his first occurring during his rookie season at Sonoma Raceway in 2007 before he double down at Watkins Glen in 2010. By then, he became the first Columbian competitor to win in the Cup Series. He would also notch nine poles, 24 top-five results, 59 top-10 results, 1,124 laps led and an average-finishing result of 19.8 through a total of 255 Cup Series starts.
Montoya’s other achievements across NASCAR include notching the Rookie-of-the Year title in 2007, becoming the first foreign-born competitor to make the Playoffs in 2009 before settling in a career-best eighth place in the season’s final standings and scoring his first Xfinity Series career victory at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City in 2007.
Having spent a bulk of his NASCAR career piloting Dodge or Chevrolet while driving for team owner Chip Ganassi before making his latest two starts in a Ford for Team Penske, Montoya will pilot a Toyota for the first time this upcoming weekend at The Glen for 23XI Racing, an organization that is in its fourth season in competition and notched the 2024 Cup Series Regular Season Championship with Tyler Reddick. The chance to compete at The Glen also marks an opportune time for Montoya to relive his previous excitement and competitiveness he delivered on the track in NASCAR while being sponsored by Mobil 1, one of his earliest sponsors in his racing career as the motor oil brand celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2024.
“I’m looking forward to getting back in a Cup car and racing at Watkins Glen – a track I really enjoy and had the chance to experience earlier in my career,” Montoya, who was announced to drive at The Glen for 23XI Racing on August 2, said in a released statement. “It’s an honor to celebrate the Mobil 1 team’s remarkable legacy in racing and be recognized for my contributions to motorsports. The Mobil 1 brand was one of my first sponsors when I started racing, so to represent the brand again as they celebrate this milestone will be so special. I’m also excited to work with 23XI and experience what the team is building.”
In addition to his previous success in NASCAR, Montoya joins 23XI Racing with a rich resume in motorsports competition that includes winning the Indianapolis 500 twice (2000 & 2015), claiming the 1999 IndyCar championship and achieving the 1998 International Formula 3000 title. During both his Indy 500 and IndyCar championship achievements, he also claimed the Rookie-of-the-Year title. He would also notch the 2019 IMSA SportsCar Championship and three Rolex 24 at Daytona titles (2007, 2008 & 2013). To date, Montoya has accumulated five IndyCar race victories and seven Formula One Grand Prixs, including the 2003 Monaco Grand Prix.
“Juan Pablo Montoya is a world-class driver who has won in everything he’s driven, and he will be a great closer to the 50th-anniversary celebration we’ve had in NASCAR with the No. 50 Mobil 1 Toyota,” Steve Lauletta, President of 23XI Racing, added. “The events have highlighted racing legends as well as what’s next in motorsports, and 23XI has been honored to have been a part of adding to the Mobil 1 legacy and celebrating such a momentous occasion.”
This season marks the second consecutive season where 23XI Racing is fielding a third part-time entry for select Cup Series events and to compete alongside the team’s two full-time entries: the No. 23 Toyota entry piloted by Bubba Wallace and the No. 45 Toyota entry piloted by Tyler Reddick. The entry debuted as No. 67 during the 2023 Daytona Speedweeks, where Rally Car champion Travis Pastrana qualified for the 65th running of the Daytona 500 and proceeded to finish in 11th place despite getting collected in a final lap multi-car wreck. Seven months after the Daytona 500, Kamui Kobayashi, a two-time FIA World Endurance champion and the 2021 24 Hours of of Le Mans winner, made his NASCAR debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, where he finished 33rd.
For this season, the entry was renumbered to 50 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Mobil 1, which sponsored the entry during its previous two starts of this season and is set to sponsor Montoya at The Glen. The No. 50 Toyota’s first start of the 2024 season occurred at Circuit of the Americas in March, where Kobayashi returned and finished 29th in his second Cup career start. At Nashville Superspeedway in June, Corey Heim, a current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoff contender for TRICON Garage, piloted the entry to a 29th-place result despite getting collected in a late multi-car wreck.
23XI Racing’s current plans on fielding its third entry for another partial or full-time schedule in 2025 remains to be determined.
Juan Pablo Montoya’s return to the NASCAR Cup Series with 23XI Racing is scheduled to occur this upcoming Sunday, September 15, at Watkins Glen International for the Go Bowling at The Glen, with the event’s broadcast time to commence at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
