Juan Pablo Montoya makes return to Sprint Cup

BROOKLYN, Mich. - Juan Pablo Montoya is ready for his abbreviated return to Sprint Cup racing.

Montoya will be in the No. 12 Ford for Sunday's 400-mile race at Michigan International Speedway, his first Cup race since moving back to IndyCar after last season.

Montoya's last win in NASCAR was in 2010, a year after he made the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship and finished a career-best eighth in the standings.

This weekend's race is in some ways a tuneup for July's Brickyard 400, another NASCAR event Montoya added to his full-time IndyCar schedule.

"Our goal here, I think, is we'll take it as it comes this weekend," Montoya said. "But the way we really look at it is it's really good preparation for the Brickyard."

Montoya is one of the world's most decorated drivers, with an Indianapolis 500 victory and wins in Formula One, NASCAR and the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona. He left Formula One for NASCAR in 2006.

Montoya returned to open-wheel racing this year to drive for Roger Penske. He is seventh in the IndyCar standings and finished third last weekend at Texas.

Now he's hoping for a strong showing for Penske on the NASCAR side, even if this isn't his full-time focus anymore.

Montoya was 28th in qualifying at Michigan on Friday.

Kevin Harvick pushed the track's qualifying mark a little bit higher, winning the pole at 204.557 mph. Harvick's pole-winning speed was the fastest since Bill Elliott set the record of 212.809 mph at Talladega Superspeedway in April 1987.

"This is one of those racetracks where you're running fast, but you really can't put it all in perspective, I guess, until you hit something," Harvick said. "It's so wide, it's so fast and so smooth, but you don't really get that huge sensation of speed."

Drivers have broken 200 mph with regularity at Michigan since the track was repaved before the 2012 season. Marcos Ambrose had a speed of 203.241 in 2012, the first time anyone won a pole at over 200 mph since Elliott did it before horsepower-sapping restrictor plates were introduced at Talladega and Daytona.

Last August, Joey Logano increased the track record to 203.949.

Harvick was even faster in winning his third pole of the year and ninth of his career. Points leader Jeff Gordon was second, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was third. The top three qualifiers for Sunday's 400-mile race were all in Chevrolets.

NASCAR overhauled its qualifying process before this season, switching to a knockout format similar to Formula One and IndyCar. NASCAR now uses three rounds of qualifying at tracks 1 1/4 miles in length or larger. The entire field has 25 minutes to post their fastest single lap and the top 24 advance to the second round.

The second segment lasts 10 minutes, and the fastest 12 advance to a final, 5-minute round.

"This format has obviously been good for me to kind of, I guess, creep up on it as you go through the sessions," Harvick said. "A fast car really solves a lot of problems."

Harvick is 12th in the Cup standings, with victories at Phoenix and Darlington. The latter win came from the pole.

His impressive performance Friday raised more questions about whether these increased speeds are any cause for concern.

"Michigan's been fast for a long time. How fast is too fast?" Harvick said. "The cars will slow down a tremendous amount when we get them in race trim and you get them in a pack, and it's going to be quite a bit hotter on Sunday. They'll slow down. Qualifying speeds are high. It's just a matter of whose opinion is taken on whether it's too fast or not."