Picking up speed

He tip-toed into the water the first four times, a bit wary of what to expect.

But that fifth time, Juan Pablo Montoya dove in head-first and ended up making a huge splash.

That pretty much sums up Montoya's performance in Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he finished fifth to earn the first top-five showing in his budding Nextel Cup career.

After finishes of 19th, 26th and 22nd in this season's first three races – plus a 34th-place outing in his Cup debut in last year's season finale – Montoya showed at Atlanta that he's ready to splash with the best of 'em.

"I thought it was real good," Montoya said. "I think we're going in the right direction."

Some critics might say, "Big deal, it's just fifth place. It wasn't a win."

But in the whole scheme of things, Montoya's performance Sunday really was a big deal. Compared to other current drivers who came to NASCAR after earning success in open wheel racing (either sprint cars or Indy cars), Montoya finds himself potentially on a very fast track.

Jeff Gordon earned the first top-five finish of his career in just his second Cup start, but Tony Stewart didn't do the trick until his ninth career start. Robby Gordon's first top-five was in his 22nd start, and John Andretti's was in his 47th career start.

Some, including J.J. Yeley, Dave Blaney and Casey Mears, continue to search for big success in Nextel Cup, while others like Christian Fittipaldi and Scott Pruett never really hit their stride in NASCAR, hence their respective short stays in the series.

Yet Montoya gets a top-five finish in just his fifth Cup race. Who knew?

"Montoya never saw this place before Friday," team owner Chip Ganassi said at Atlanta. "I'm a little surprised in a way, and I'm not surprised in another way."

Oftentimes, the best way to judge a rookie driver's talent – although given his wealth of open wheel experience, Montoya is a "rookie" in name only on the NASCAR circuit – is how his new peers talk about him.

To say the least, those peers are talking about Montoya in nothing but complimentary terms.

• Defending Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson: "I think he did a great job. He should be very proud of the effort he put in."

* Two-time Cup champ Tony Stewart: "I'm pretty impressed. To see him come to Atlanta and be able to run that well here and figure this place out – I didn't figure it out in one try by any means. He did an awesome job. Every track he goes to this year will be a new track for him. That shows why he got his opportunity in Formula One, because he's a great talent."

* 2003 Cup champion Matt Kenseth: "You don't need me to tell you that he's a great driver. And if they can give him a car that can contend, he's going to contend."

Montoya not is only learning quickly on the race track, he's also fitting in quite nicely off the track. Even though he's of a different culture, speaks with a different accent and was weaned on a completely different style of racing, he's well on his way to becoming one of NASCAR's good ol' boys.

"I think it's been great," the Colombian said. "I've been very respectful of [the other drivers], and I think they're great drivers. They're making my life tough. It's hard work, but sometimes what's amazing is how close they race. You can tell the better they are, the cleaner they race.

"They give you room if you get a run, and if they get a run, you'd better give them room. You learn to play that way, and it just makes racing awesome."

Montoya doesn't even mind trading comedic barbs with his newfound buddies.

"When I was running fifth [at Atlanta] or whatever and he blew my doors off and was running the high side, what I said was, 'He's going to win the race if he doesn't hit the wall,'" Kenseth said after the race.

Kenseth then turned to Montoya, who was sitting next to him, and added, "You hit the wall, didn't you?"

To which Montoya laughed and sheepishly nodded yes.

Sure, he may have slightly run aground in the heat of that battle, but all in all, things went quite swimmingly this past Sunday.

And that could soon become the norm.