Montoya lives up to promise, NASCAR to hit Hendrick

	After failing inspection last Friday, Jimmie Johnson will likely have to make do without Chad Knaus' advice for the immediate future. Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR

Here are five things we learned on Sunday at Sonoma.

1. Juan Pablo Montoya made a statement.

Sixteen races into his stock car career, Montoya is living up to his considerable hype. On Sunday he became just the second foreign-born driver to ever win a Cup race, the first Dodge driver to win this year, and the first driver for Chip Ganassi to win since 2002.

There was plenty of pressure on Montoya to perform. When he left the Formula One series last year and signed with Ganassi, he was automatically penciled in as the favorite to win every road course the circuit visits. Montoya grew up racing go-karts in Bogota, Colombia on road courses and he won seven races in F/1, which competes on winding road tracks.

So far this year, Montoya is two-for-two in the events where the expectations on him are high. He won earlier this season in Busch Series road race in Mexico City and he took the checkers on Sunday by displaying patience, solid fuel strategy, and off-the-charts car control. Montoya still has plenty to learn on the ovals --and he won't be a serious Cup contender until he improves on the meat-and-potatoes tracks of the Cup schedule -- but there is simply no more exhilarating driver in NASCAR today on road courses than JP.

2. Denny Hamlin was the weekend's big winner.

On Sunday Hamlin finished 10th, which was the ninth time in the last 11 races he's been the top 10. This has been an impressive stretch for the second-year driver, and he's clearly not going to suffer the sophomore slump syndrome that has afflicted Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne in past years. Hamlin, who also won the Busch Series race in Milwaukee on Saturday, is currently in second place in the standings, trailing Jeff Gordon by 271 points. But that gap is going to shrink considerably within 24 hours, because ...