Ambrose Scores Career-Best Second in Sprint Cup at Watkins Glen

11 August 2009

Marcos Ambrose has scored his best ever NASCAR Sprint Cup Series finish by grabbing second place in a thrilling Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen in Watkins Glen, New York today.

Ambrose finished just behind current Sprint Cup points leader Tony Stewart at the end of today’s 90-lap race, which was delayed by one day due to rain at the 2.45-mile road course yesterday.

Driving the #47 Little Debbie-backed entry of JTG Daugherty Racing, Ambrose started from fourth position but his race was turned on its head in the early stages, when Ambrose was one of only three cars to elect not to pit at a caution on lap 23.

With Ambrose now off-strategy to the front-runners, he faced a sizeable challenge to get back into the lead pack, despite leading the race on two occasions for a total of nine laps as his alternate strategy played out.

At the final series of pit stops, Ambrose and his crew chief Frank Kerr opted to take only fuel, resulting in a quicker pit stop and propelling Ambrose from outside the top 20 up into fourth place, but meaning that he would have to finish the race on well-worn tyres.

Despite his older rubber, Ambrose had more than enough speed to pass Kyle Busch – his rival in Saturday’s spectacular Nationwide Series win – to take second place.

Unfortunately for Ambrose, two-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart possessed enough pace to hold out Ambrose over the final laps, denying the Australian his first top-level NASCAR victory.

For their efforts, Ambrose earned the Mobil 1 Command Performance Award and Kerr the DirecTV Crew Chief of the Race Award.

Ambrose rises one spot in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings after today’s outstanding result to now sit in 17th place, clearly the highest placed first year driver and now just 114 points behind Michael Waltrip Racing stable-mate David Reutimann.

Ambrose will be back in action this weekend at the 2.0-mile Michigan International Speedway for the Carfax 400, the 23rd race in this year’s Sprint Cup Series.

Today’s race was also marred by a lengthy red flag period after a sickening crash involving Sam Hornish Jr, Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton. All drivers escaped uninjured. CLICK HERE to view the accident.

Watkins Glen Quoteboard

MARCOS AMBROSE - Pit Lane Interview:

QUESTION: It's been a big weekend for Marcos Ambrose. A win on Saturday and a second place on Monday. How was your car today Marcos?

“It was just great. We've had a trying weekend. Both cars were difficult when we got them out of the truck on Friday but we worked hard at it.

“The Cup car was just a little aggressive to drive and I had to work really hard to keep up with Smoke there.

“I was closing in, but he just didn't make a mistake. What a fantastic driver he is, he's just unbelievable.

“I just feel privileged to be racing against him and to drive for my team. I'm just so proud of all my guys. They've given me great stuff all year and JTG Daugherty is here to stay with the help of Michael Waltrip Racing and it's just really exciting times for us.

“Little Debbie is on our car. They've been off our car the last few races. They're back on board and we've got them a good result. Congratulations to them.

“I can't wait to have a shower and lie down. I'm pretty whipped.”

QUESTION: Third last season in this race, second this season. I guess we can expect to see you back next year to try and go for that Number One spot?

“I'll try. As long as the team will have me, I'll drive for them.”

MARCOS AMBROSE - Second Place Media Conference

“It’s just a great weekend for us. We didn’t quite have enough to get Tony there in the end but I threw everything I could at him.

“We got off strategy for some reason, just with the way the race rolled for us. We got stuck in the back of the back and had to make a gamble.

“We came in and splashed off on fuel and didn't put tyres on it. I think that was the difference between first and second this afternoon, just the extra laps I did on my tyres, probably about 8 or 10 laps more than Tony.

“I could close in on him and I could see him starting to make a few little mistakes, locking tyres and bits and pieces, but not enough to catch him.

“I'm pretty proud of my team. We didn't quite close the deal but it's just been a great weekend for us and I'm really, really excited for our future.”

QUESTION: Yesterday, Darian Grubb (crew chief, #14 Tony Stewart) was talking about Tony and that this race might play right into his hands because it was going to be a hot, slick track. To Marcos, do you think that today played into Tony's hands?

“We missed (the set-up) just a little bit. I thought practice on Saturday was better than what we had today. It was on the edge the whole time.

“If I had the perfect line and did everything just right I could get away with it but the track was slick and we were slightly aggressive on our set-up. We didn't really get a chance to tune it either. I think we only changed a quarter-pound of tyre pressure all day because we were pitting under green and didn't really have time to do anything to it.

“All in all it's just a great track for us. I'd love to see better brakes because it's very hard to pass when you're brakes are so hot.

CARL EDWARDS - Third Place: “Well, when you go in 200 feet deeper than everybody else ...”

“That's all. I think it's a great track for us. The track was slick and hot, but it makes it a challenge and that's why you see the good guys getting to the front.”

QUESTION: What’s the practical effect of you having tyres that were about 10 laps older? You just couldn't go deeper in the turns?

“The grip gradually drops. It's a fairly linear graph, if you looked at each lap it would back up just a little bit. The tyres wear, they get hotter. So forward drive becomes an issue, brake performance becomes an issue. Flat spots - you know, you've got to look after your tyres because you're bound to nip them every now and then.

“And that's the difference. There's just more grip available to you if your tyres are new. We all love the feel-good tyres that we put on after each pit stop but our race, the way it rolled, we just couldn't afford to spend the time to put tyres on at that last splash.

“It worked in our favour - we jumped a lot of spots and were able to work forward once we got ourselves in the top five and pick up a couple more.

“The strategy for us after halfway was the right one. I think we did the best we could.”

QUESTION: Marcos, at one point I heard one crew chief say that they thought you were a second quicker than the rest of the field. Was that just the clean air or do you think you were that much quicker and does that make this second a little bit more frustrating?

“Not at all. We were very fast in practice and unfortunately the track was hotter and slicker than what we wanted. We just didn't quite have the grip today that we had on Saturday.

“I talked the team into making a couple of changes I thought were better. They were on Saturday but with the hot, slick track were maybe slightly aggressive. But we'll learn from that for next year and hopefully go one more spot up the sheet.”

QUESTION: You mentioned you're pit strategy earlier Marcos. It sounded like on the radio that you and Frank were really torn as to when to come in, when not to come in. Is that when you got off strategy?

“It was at the first stop. We were third, we stayed out and everybody pitted except for three cars and then our destiny was set. We couldn't then pit with everybody else because we were off sequence so we just had to try and then run our own race and have the shortest pit stop we could as soon as we could make it home.

“So when that caution came out about 10 laps shy of our lap number to make it home, we stopped, got tyres and fuel and then we splashed after 10 laps, came in and took off.

“And that's the difference, right there. The very first caution flag is what set our course for the day.”

QUESTION: Could you talk about the double-file restarts today?

“I thought they were good. You have to be very careful to look after your ‘compadres’. It's easier to get into somebody. I actually bumped Carl on Saturday getting a bit greedy into Turn 1 and I learned my lesson.

“So today, I don't want to ruin Tony's race or Kyle's race and I was mindful or who I was racing up there and I think we looked after each other reasonably well. There was plenty of good dicing and passing and a lot of skill-level up there to keep everybody off of each other.

“I think it's good. It's great for the fans and it makes it tough for the drivers, no doubt. But this sport wasn't meant to be easy.”

All media requests for interviews, press releases, information, or images to be directed to:

Melissa Arbuthnot
melissa.arbuthnot@communecom.com.au

Janina Czado
janina@communecom.com.au

CommunEcom Strategic Communications
P.O. Box 689
Balgowlah NSW 2093

Ph: +61 2 9949 9788
Fax: +61 2 9949 9688

Ambrose Scores Career-Best Second in Sprint Cup at Watkins Glen

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