"I think it's great to see the Latin community paying attention to what we're doing," he said at the Ford 400 on Saturday.

The Colombian star has expanded the stock car series' popularity outside of the United States. He answers questions from the Hispanic media in Spanish, fans wave Colombian flags in the stands, and south Florida fans have made him the most popular driver this week.

It might be too much attention. Montoya, sixth in the points standings, has been crushed by ticket requests for the finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Sunday.

"It's actually a nightmare. It is," he said. "It's so many people. Everybody wants tickets. Everybody wants this, everybody needs this. Everybody is your best friend."

Montoya had plenty of friends on Thursday when more than 700 people attended his fundraising gala in south Florida. He's proud of the increased awareness he's helped bring to NASCAR, but emphasized that's secondary compared to his racing.

"I'm not racing NASCAR to create Hispanic awareness about it, you know?" he said. "I race NASCAR because I want to kick everybody's butt."

The former Formula One standout _ he also has an Indianapolis 500 win and CART championship on his resume _ has done more of that this year than his first two full seasons in NASCAR.

"I want to win races and everything, but the way we ran over the past few years against this year, it's been incredible," he said. "We got to be able to match the performance. I think that's the key thing for the team for the future."