INDIANAPOLIS — Juan Pablo Montoya seethed. He had the Brickyard 400 victory in his sights. He'd so dominated the first 124 laps Sunday he called it "easy."

He had a shot at history.

And then it disappeared.

Montoya pulled out from pit road at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with 34 laps separating him from becoming the first driver to ever win the Indy 500 and Brickyard 400.

Then NASCAR penalized him for excessive speeding entering pit road. That meant a drive-through-the-pits penalty that dropped him to 12th.

He never recovered and finished 11th.

"It kind of sucks," he said, "but it is what it is. I thought I wasn't speeding. I was on the (speed) lights every time. It is what it is. Once it happens, you can't change it. It's pretty frustrating."

Montoya had spent the afternoon frustrating the competition.

He consistently pulled away from all challengers. Most of the time the challenger was Mark Martin, who finished second behind Jimmie Johnson.

"They sure had the car," Martin said. "It's tough, but it's happened to every one of us."

Added third-place finisher Tony Stewart: If that didn't happen, we'd have had a hard time with him. He was not really challenged all day. He did a great job.

"I know what he's feeling. It's got to make him sick inside with what he could have accomplished. He had the car and the talent to do it.

He made a mistake and it cost him."

Montoya had never led a lap at the Brickyard 400 before. He previously led at the Speedway at the U.S. Grand Prix Formula One (two laps in 2001) and the Indy 500 (167 laps en route to the victory).

Montoya dropped one spot in the Race for the Chase standings, to 10th. Only the top 12 advance for a shot at the championship. Crew chief Brian Pattie said there would be no protest to NASCAR officials.

"It's electronic," Pattie said. "It's not like there's a lot to discuss. It's black and white. NASCAR did their job. Now we have to do ours."

Added owner Felix Sebates: "NASCAR has pictures of (Montoya speeding). I want them to show it to me that he was speeding. I'll be happy with that."

• Hendrick Motorsports has a record seven Brickyard 400 victories_four by Jeff Gordon and Johnson's three. The Speedway record is 15 (all Indy 500s) by Penske Racing.

That record, owner Rick Hendrick said, won't be touched.

"I won't live long enough to get 15."

• Driver points leader Tony Stewart came on strong to finish third. He leads runner-up Johnson by 192 points.

"We could never mount a charge," Stewart said. "There were 43 cars and we ran third. There's no shame in that. We were fourth in Chicago (the last race). We're doing the things we need to do."

• Dale Earnhardt's season to forget continues. Despite battling a stomach virus, he was running in the top 10 before his engine blew after a pit stop. That ended his race after 127 laps. He finished 36th.

That dropped him another spot to 22nd in the drivers' standings.

"We haven't had engine problems, so I assume it was driver error," he said. "I broke the valve train on the last pit stop and a couple of pieces dropped to the bottom of the motor. They must have blown the engine.

"We had a good car, one of the best there for a while. We could have finished anywhere from fifth to 10th if things had gone right."

Hendrick said there's reason for optimism.

"As ill as he was no idea he could run the race. I feel he'll turn t he corner. We're not happy with the way the car is running, but we are happy with the chemistry. He's putting in the effort. He's doing everything anybody asks of him."

• Kyle Busch's Chase for the Cup prospects took a hit when he hit the wall because of a blown right front tire. He started the day in 10th and ended it in 14th.

Busch had fought a poor-handling car for most of his race.

The tire blew while he tried to pass David Gilliland who was a lap behind the leaders.

It was Busch's second straight poor performance coming off a 33rd finish at Chicagoland to negate much of the benefit from his three victories. He has six more races to return to Chase qualifying status.

"We're trying to fight for a spot in the Chase and this is frustrating because I don't know if it was our car, the tires or what," he said.

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