Juan Pablo Montoya just shrugged. The chance to make NASCAR history was not foremost on his mind.

"Is it possible? Yeah," Montoya said yesterday at Watkins Glen International in New York. "Do we have a chance to win? I would say yes. I just see it as an opportunity to win a race."

Montoya, a Nextel Cup rookie who made the jump from Formula One to stock cars, won a Busch Series race in Mexico in March and took the Cup race at Sonoma, Calif., in June. A win in either the Busch race today or the Centurion Boats at The Glen tomorrow would make him the first NASCAR driver to win three road races in a season.

Only three drivers -- Jeff Gordon in 1998 and 1999, Robby Gordon in 2003, and Tony Stewart in 2005 -- have swept both Cup road races in the same season. Nobody has won three NASCAR road races in one season.

"I think it's pretty exciting," said Montoya, who was seventh-fastest in the lone practice yesterday before qualifying was rained out. "I've got to say we've been having a pretty good season lately. The last few races we've been getting better, getting very good results."

With finishes of 15th, a surprising second at Indianapolis, and 16th in the past three races, Montoya has moved up three spots in the standings since finishing 32nd at Daytona. He stands 18th with five races before the cutoff for the Chase for the championship, and this former Indianapolis 500 winner is beginning to get a good feel for oval racing, too.

"I'm starting to get the hang of the car, I'm getting more comfortable, to drive a little freer, a little bit looser, and I think that's helping a lot," said Montoya, who was part of the winning team in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona in February in his first start in the sports car series. "I think Donnie [Wingo], my crew chief, is starting to understand what I want out of the car and what do I like and what I don't like, and that really helps."

Only the top 12 drivers qualify to compete for the Nextel Cup, and Montoya trails the current 12th man, Kurt Busch, by 267 points.

A misting rain that hovered above Watkins Glen International became too heavy and forced NASCAR to cancel qualifying for the race tomorrow.

As the runaway points leader, that placed Jeff Gordon up front in his No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet as the top 35 cars in the 43-car field were set by points.

That left Denny Hamlin on the front row alongside Gordon, and Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, and Tony Stewart round out the top five.

IRL

Tony Kanaan thinks he can make the chase for the IndyCar Series points title a three-driver race and will get a chance to prove it today in the Meijer Kentucky 300 at Sparta. Ky.

Kanaan grabbed the pole with a blistering qualifying speed of 218.086 mph, well ahead of teammate and series points leader Dario Franchitti, who qualified second with at 216.810. Kanaan enters the final quarter of the season trailing Franchitti by 81 points and second-place Scott Dixon by 57 points.

Champ Car

Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., has been one of the few tracks that has managed to keep Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais out of Victory Lane during his first four seasons in the Champ Car World Series. It looks like the Generac Grand Prix tomorrow will be his final chance at a win at the track.

Bourdais, who announced he is leaving at the end of the season for a ride in Formula One next season, won the provisional pole with a fast lap of 1:42.385 (142.333 mph). He was considerably faster than runner-up Will Power's 1:43.116 (141.324).