Kaleb Montgomery’s bid for second Thursday at Santa Maria Speedway ended with his No. 3 machine facing the wrong direction. A night later, the 26-year-old of Templeton, Calif., found himself taking up a golden opportunity under the wings of one of Sprint Car racing’s masterminds.
Montgomery debuted Friday at Thunderbowl Raceway with Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing in Kevin Kozlowski’s No. W with Paul Silva turning the wrenches, pairing the Californian with the venerated crew chief fresh off winning his fourth Knoxville Nationals title in six years with Kyle Larson just Saturday.
“I’m really looking forward to my opportunity,” Montgomery told High Limit Racing publicist Brian Walker on Thursday’s edition of After The Checkers. “I’m gonna try and soak it all up like a sponge.”
Montgomery is the first driver to step into Kozlowski’s car since Brad Sweet told FloRacing on July 29 that he's officially stepping away from the driver’s seat for the time being — and perhaps for good. Three of Sweet’s four Sprint Car victories this season came in NARC competition aboard Kozlowski’s machine.
Montgomery started and finished 15th in Friday’s High Limit feature at the Thunderbowl. He drew a lap-seven caution when he got out of shape on the turn-two cushion trying to make something happen while running 13th, but avoided spinning and continued. He never ran higher than 13th or lower than 17th.
Montgomery is expected to remain in the No. W for Saturday’s 49er Gold Rush Classic at Placerville Speedway and Aug. 27-29’s Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif.
For Montgomery, the upcoming stretch offers several nights to pick the brain of a crew chief who's won 14 of 37 features this season with Larson and Sweet combined. He joked that doing so could make for an interesting personality contrast given Silva’s notably reserved nature and Montgomery’s outgoing nature.
“I’m a talker … I could talk to a fence post,” Montgomery said. “I don’t know how that’s really gonna mesh between him and I, but I imagine we’ll bring the best out of each other. I’m just gonna probably annoy him with all the whys and all the questions I ask. For the most part, I’m just gonna soak it up and be grateful for the opportunity.”
Montgomery brings two career 410 Sprint Car victories to the table — both being in NARC competition at Santa Maria, with his first last season and his second just last month.
He appeared capable of adding another potential Santa Maria victory Thursday before his promising run aboard his own No. 3 ended on lap 10 while battling eventual winner Aaron Reutzel.
Running third, Montgomery saw an opening underneath Reutzel for second on the backstretch entering turn three and committed to the move just as the red lights illuminated for 10th-running Corey Day, who flipped on the same restart. With his car already "wound up" for the move, Montgomery made slight contact with Reutzel when he looked underneath the Ridge & Sons Racing driver while trying to slow, sending his own car around.
“I tried to arc it open, and I saw Aaron was floating up the track,” Montgomery said. “I went down and I felt like I had a really good run. In those situations, I wanted to capitalize on it.
“I saw the red light come on, and I was like, ‘Oh!’ I had the car so wound up, I barely tapped Aaron with the right-rear as I hit the brakes. Got the right-side nerf bar. It was the right angle at the right time, and it just kicked me around.”