Montoya led 116 laps and had a five-second lead when he headed to pit road for a routine stop with 35 laps remaining. NASCAR flagged him for speeding on his way in, and the penalty knocked him out of contention.
"I swear on my children and my wife that I was not speeding!" he shouted over his radio. "There is no way! Thank you, NASCAR, for screwing my day."
Crew chief Brian Pattie begged his driver to calm down and focus on salvaging a solid points day, to no avail.
"Don't tell me to relax, dude!" Montoya yelled. "We had this in the bag."
Indeed he did, but the 2000 winner of the Indianapolis 500 was relegated to an 11th-place finish. Montoya, who had moved as high as sixth in the Sprint Cup standings as he ran out front, instead lost a spot and is now 10th in the race for the Chase for the championship.
The performance was reminiscent of Montoya's win in the Indy 500, when he led 167 of 200 laps in his first race at the storied track. His team celebrated his return Sunday with a retro paint scheme that duplicated that winning car, and as he clicked off lap after lap, it was deja vu for the Colombian driver.
"Actually reminded me of last time I led here to be honest," a calm Montoya said after the race. "I was cruise(ing). I was super fast."
Too fast, actually. NASCAR said the electronic timing system caught Montoya twice exceeding the limit as he drove down pit road.
"There's nothing to prove wrong," said Robin Pemberton, vice president of competition. "It's about as simple math as you can use."
The penalty opened up the race for anyone else to claim.
Mark Martin restarted as the leader with 24 laps to go and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson lined up on his outside. Johnson sailed to the front and pulled away, only to have to hold off Martin over a nerve-racking final five laps.
Johnson, winner of three of the last four races at The Brickyard, became the first driver to win in consecutive years in 16 NASCAR races at Indy. It was the third win this season for the three-time defending NASCAR champion.
Martin, who at 50 became the oldest polesitter in Indy's 100 years, finished second and moved up two spots in the standings to ninth.
"I would have liked to win it," Martin said. "Just got beat by Superman."
Current points leader Tony Stewart, a two-time Brickyard winner, was third and could commiserate with Montoya's heartbreak.
"He never really was challenged all day," Stewart said. "He did a great job. I know what he's feeling like — he's got to be sick inside. He had the car, he had the talent to do it, he just made a mistake and it cost him."
Greg Biffle was fourth and followed by Brian Vickers and Kevin Harvick, who grabbed his best finish in 15 races.
Kasey Kahne was seventh and followed by David Reutimann, four-time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth.
A cut tire caused Kyle Busch to finish 38th and drop out of contention for the Chase. The bad day cost him four spots in the standings, and he is 14th with six races left to set the 12-driver Chase field.
"I think it's pretty self-explanatory that we're trying to fight for a spot in the Chase," said Busch, a three-time winner this season.
The tire problems that plagued last year's race were never a factor, as Goodyear made good on its promise to find the right compound for one of the biggest races of the season. Goodyear's product last year couldn't last longer than 10-to-12 laps, and the tiremaker spent 11 months diligently correcting the problem.
