Bullseye awaits checkered flag

Six races in to the 36-race NASCAR Sprint cup season, and team Target, with driver Juan Pablo Montoya, has the bullseye brand well positioned to secure a position for a run-at-the-points championship this fall. Although Montoya has yet to pilot the number 42 Target Chevrolet to victory, consistency is the name of the game at this stage of the race season, and Montoya has avoided trouble and generally finished races closer to the front of the pack than the rear, ensuring the Target logo receives ample air time. Montoya had his best finish of the season several weeks ago when he came in 9th at the Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee. Last week he finished 12th at the Martinsville track where the Goody’s Fast Relief 500 was held, and before that his best finishes were at the Fontana, Ca. track where he came in 11th and at the Daytona 500 where he finished 14. This week, Montoya and his bright red Chevy with Target’s bullseye logo on the hood head to the Texas Motor Speedway for the Samsung 500.

Awin is always welcome, but the key issue for drivers at this stage is the season is to run well enough to earn a sufficient number of points to become one of the 12 drivers who qualify for the 10 race shootout at the end of the season that NASCAR uses to determine its annual champion, a distinction Jimmy Johnson and his number 48 Lowe’s car have earned the past three years. Montoya is currently 14th in the point standing, and, with the NASCAR Sprint Cup races nearly every weekend for the next five months, he has ample time to move up in the standings and putting the Target brand in the running for a championship.