Juan Pablo Montoya picked up his first top-five of the season at Talladega Superspeedway, but he doesn't sound like a man convinced it's a sign of immediate things to come.

Montoya cracked the top 12 for the first time in his 45-race Sprint Cup career thanks to a runner-up finish at Talladega. But, he cautioned, don't let that lead to ramped-up expectations.

"You cannot expect to go, 'We're 12th now so we need to run in the top 10 every week,'" Montoya said. "We haven't run in the top 10 but once this year. All of a sudden are we going to run in the top 10 every week? No, that's not going to happen.

"It's not going to happen overnight because we finished second in Talladega. Are we going to have more top fives and top 10s? Probably yes. We just have to make it a little bit better. Making the Chase is more about everyone else making mistakes and [us] being consistent."

Consistency has not been a problem for Montoya. Seven of his nine finishes going into last night's Dan Lowry 400 at Richmond International Raceway were between 13th and 20th.

Those finishes provedthat Montoya has adjusted to Sprint Cup racing well. The next challenge is improving those finishes while remaining consistent.

"I thought the first part went pretty smooth," Montoya said. "The last bit has been pretty hard. To get good every week is really hard. It's not only myself, it's the entire team."

Therin lies the problem. Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates has three Cup cars, but has had only three of 17 cars finish in the top 12 in its seven years.

Ganassi has succeeded in IndyCars, with Scott Dixon claiming the 2003 series title. That has not transferred over, however, and Montoya says Ganassi's not the only one feeling the effects.

"It drives all of us nuts," Montoya said. "We all want to do really good in NASCAR. Chip's a guy who has won pretty much everything. He's been close winning here before, but were not going to win overnight. It's all about a process."

Montoya has never been known for patience. He's driven, he wants to win, and he wants to win as soon as possible. To hear him talk about CGRFS with phrases like "getting better" and "need a little bit more time" shows a different side to him.

It's a side that is learning strides in NASCAR often aren't instantaneous or easy to come by. So he's learning just as his team is.

"I think the racing part I'm pretty good at," Montoya said. "I think it's more of, 'Do I need a track bar? Do I want to pull rubber out? Is it the wedge? Is it the track bar on the left or right?' It's all kinds of things. When the car is really good, then it's very easy to adjust like that. When the car is bad, it's very hard to decide which is the worst pick."

His patience may be growing, but it's not taking away from his competitive fire. Montoya was asked if he wanted to win a championship in NASCAR. His answer could not have been more imperative.

"Of course. Do you think I came here for holidays?" Montoya asked. "Of course you want to win races. If I didn't think that I could - every week - come out here (and) have a chance at winning, I shouldn't even show up."