MEXICO CITY — Juan Pablo Montoya showed off his road-racing expertise Friday, topping the speed chart in a practice session for the NASCAR Busch Series’ Telcel-Motorola 200 on Sunday.

Montoya, the 31-year-old Colombian who jumped from Formula One to NASCAR last season, averaged 104.180 mph on his fastest lap in the No. 42 Dodge on the curvy, 2.518-mile Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez course.

“It’s an awesome track,” Montoya said. “It takes a lot of talent to go around and it’s tricky and needs a lot of rhythm. I hope we can have a good weekend and bring the car home this time. I see our team going higher and higher and that is the main goal.”

Montoya gained a strong following in Mexico with Formula N victories in the 1990s.

“I get a great reception from the Mexican crowd,” he said. “This is the closest thing I get to racing at home. The first thing I did when I came in last night was go to my favorite restaurant.”

Mexican drivers Carlos Contreras and Jorge Goeters also finished in the top five, a promising sign for local fans who have been waiting for a fellow Latino to triumph in NASCAR’s only race in Mexico.

Scott Pruett, driving the No. 41 Dodge, was second in the practice session at 103.542 mph. Denny Hamlin, the winner last year, was third in a Chevrolet at 103.297 mph.

Contreras, a Mexico City native, was fourth at 103.197 mph.

“One day, a Latino is going to win a NASCAR race and the Hispanic following of this sport will go through the roof,” Contreras said. “I hope that winner will be me on Sunday. If it’s not me, I hope it will be Juan Pablo Montoya.”

The 36-year-old Contreras comes from a racing family, with his grandfather, father, big brother and even young nephew all driving.

“I don’t have blood in my veins. I have gasoline,” he said.

There were two cautions in the practice session, the first when Dave Blaney had a minor crash in his Toyota and the second when Rogelio Lopez’s Dodge blew an engine.

The drivers saw some changes in the course, with a 1,000-foot long chicane that used to slow drivers on the opening stretch being taken out recently.

The jury was out on the modification.

Boris Said, who finished second last year, thought the change was “a bad thing.”

“I really liked the chicane. It was a really fast part of the track and it was a blast,” Said said.

Brent Sherman also was disappointed, saying the chicane had “separated the men from the boys.

However, Ron Fellows thought the course had been improved.

“It’s going to make the initial start more wild but on restarts and the potential for out-breaking maneuvers, it’s going to be better,” Fellows said.

Fellows, a road-course specialist, was in Mexico City for his third race and is determined to do better than the last two years when he had disappointing results.

He finished 10th in the practice at 102.158 mph.

“I hope this year, it will be third time lucky,” he said.