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JELD-WEN Race Preview
– Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway

01 Jul 2009

Ambrose Amped for Daytona Night Race

Marcos Ambrose is excited about his return to Daytona International Speedway for the Coke Zero 400 in Florida this weekend.

Ambrose finished 17th in his Daytona 500 debut earlier this year in the #47 entry of JTG Daugherty Racing and now gets his second crack at the 2.5-mile superspeedway at the venue’s 400-mile night race.

The Australian is currently 18th in points and with a new Michael Waltrip Racing-built car at his disposal, is keen for yet another solid result in his first full season in Sprint Cup competition.

Daytona Night Race the Toughest Plate Race of Them All

Ambrose has admitted carrying some apprehension into Daytona this weekend, stating that the Coke Zero 400 is the toughest superspeedway restrictor plate race of the NASCAR season.

Daytona International Speedway is widely considered a tougher venue than Talladega, where cars can more easily run flat out and side-by-side for a full lap.

At this second Daytona race of the year, a combination of summer heat and humidity and night air means that cars run faster, but with less grip, during this weekend’s 160-lap affair than they do in February for the season-opening Daytona 500.

Coke Zero 400 Also Shown Live on ONE

This weekend’s Coke Zero 400 is the second Sprint Cup race of the season that will be shown live on both ONE and Fox Sports in Australia.

Check local guides for further schedule information, especially those in regional areas, many of whom may now have access to ONE via Southern Cross networks that switched on ONE on July 2.

Also note that this race is a Saturday night event in the United States (Sunday morning Australian time).

What Marcos Had to Say

“Really, Daytona is a bit of a lottery,” said Ambrose.

“We all enjoy leaving Daytona, but we're all apprehensive heading down there.

“It could be an awesome night for us or it could be a short night, you just never know. It's a drafting race. There is guaranteed to be a lot of crashes, you just want to try and make sure that you're not in one of them.

“This is actually a tougher race (than the Dyaonta 500). It's 100 miles shorter and it's run at night in the high humidity weather that Florida gets during the summer.

“The grip levels are lower because of the humidity in the air and the cars go faster because you are racing at night and the air is denser.

“You go faster but the car handles worse. You've really got your hands full there so it's a difficult race to finish. Cars move around a lot and there is always a lot of bumping and cars crashing because cars can't quite hang on around the corners.”

Click on an image below for a larger view.

 

Audio: Daytona - Marcos Ambrose says that the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway is even tougher than the Daytona 500 in February

 

More Information

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www.marcosambrose.com

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