Ambrose Teams up with Edwards for Montreal 200 before NAPA AUTO PARTS 200

CORNELIUS, N.C. (August 27, 2009) - Marcos Ambrose continues to pinch himself every day as the Australian driver literally lives the dream. Last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, he found himself among good company with the likes of Mark Martin, Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson campaigning for his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory. While he waits another week for another shot because the series is off, he still has plans that involves racing.

First he joins NASCAR star Carl Edwards to make his first Grand-Am Rolex Series start in Saturday's Montreal 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve behind the wheel of the No. 77 Dallara Daytona prototype of Doran Racing sponsored by Alfac, iRacing.com, Subway and Au wines. Ambrose and Edwards tested the car at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) a couple weeks ago to prepare for their debut.

Then Ambrose is in the hunt for his second consecutive NASCAR Nationwide Series victory during the NAPA AUTO PARTS 200 at Montreal where he finished third last year after leading 27 laps. Ambrose was the class of the field and had a huge lead while rain fell on the 14-turn 2.709 road course, but a speeding penalty derailed his efforts and the race was cut 26 laps short of its scheduled finish.

“On Saturday, I’m racing in the Grand-Am race with Carl Edwards and those cars are so fun to drive,” Ambrose said. “They have good downforce, good power, good aero balance and brakes. I’m looking forward to that. I’m not sure how our driver change will go.

“Then I’m really looking forward to the Nationwide race, but I can’t take the car I won with at Watkins Glen because I crashed it during the burnout,” Ambrose said. “If you go back and look at the footage, I hit the pit wall and tore the rear end out of it. We’ve got another car we are taking up there.”

Ambrose sported STP for his first NASCAR Nationwide Series race and win of the season at Watkins Glen International. This time he will proudly carry Armor All® on his No. 47 Toyota Camry as he looks to add to his two victories, five top-five and 13 top-10 Nationwide career finishes on Sunday.

“We’ve got some great sponsors and we are very lucky right now,” Ambrose said. “I just want to be here for the long haul and I love NASCAR and I’m privileged to be in the sport. I promised myself when I made it to NASCAR that I would be happy every day and just be happy that I am here."

Live coverage of the NAPA Auto Parts 200 on Sunday, August 30th begins at 2 p.m. Eastern at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

WALTRIP’S TOP-15 RUN ENDS WHEN TIRE IS CUT DOWN DURING CLOSING LAPS OF SHARPIE 500 AT BRISTOL

BRISTOL, TENN. – Michael Waltrip and the NAPA Racing team had a good run taken away on Saturday night when a tire was cut down with less than 10 laps to go in the Sharpie 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The problem resulted in a crash and a 31st-place finish.

“I am just so disappointed with what happened,” said Waltrip who started the Sharpie 500 in 36th position. “I saw smoke and told the guys about it. Pitting again under that caution to make sure everything was OK was an option, but we stayed out. It cost us a good finish.”

Mark Martin led the field to the green flag and it was not long until Waltrip was moving his way up through the field. By lap 60, he was already in the top 25. Meanwhile, the second caution of the race was thrown when Denny Hamlin had a tire issue. Crew chief Bootie Barker came over the radio to see what Waltrip needed. His answer was pretty simple – nothing. So on lap 66, the pit crew changed four tires and added fuel.

The race went back to green on lap 69 with Greg Biffle as the new leader and Waltrip was in 25th. The NAPA Toyota remained one of the fastest cars on the track as he broke into the top 20 by lap 132. Then three laps later, the caution was back out for debris. Waltrip told the team that he didn’t need any adjustments so the pit crew busted off a 14-second stop for four fresh tires and fuel. Waltrip picked up three positions on the track due to the fast stop. On the restart, he was scored in 15th and Mark Martin was back in the top spot.

The next green-flag run saw Waltrip compete in the top 20 despite the fact that the driver felt the set of tires he had on were not as good as the first two sets. Barker also told his driver that his teammate, Marcos Ambrose, was reporting the same issue. More than likely, the track was changing and the Michael Waltrip Racing cars were running on the tight side.

Another caution was thrown on lap 163. The NAPA team opted to stay out while most of the cars on the lead lap pitted. Waltrip restarted in 13th position and he held his own as his lap times were as fast as the leader.

Then at the halfway mark, Waltrip was on the verge of breaking into the top 10. On lap 357, the pit crew serviced the NAPA Toyota in 13 seconds. Waltrip returned to the track in 12th position and radar showed rain closing in on Thunder Valley. It made its appearance on lap 420 and NASCAR put out the caution flag. Barker kept Waltrip out while the leaders pitted. The NAPA Toyota was posted in the top spot on lap 425 and remained there for eight laps.
Lap 440 saw a multi-car crash take place right behind the No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota. Sam Hornish made contact with Casey Mears. The cars of Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, and Brian Vickers were also involved. The yellow allowed the NAPA crew to make another air pressure change, bolt on four fresh tires and add fuel. Waltrip returned to the track in 18th and Kyle Busch was the new leader.

The air pressure adjustments made during the last pit stop made Waltrip’s Toyota tighter. So on lap 459, the NAPA crew went back to work to lower the air pressure to free up the car. The stop took just 12.70 seconds. Busch remained the leader and Waltrip was in 17th position. The race resumed and the double-file restart saw close door-to-door racing. Contact was made between several cars including Martin Truex Jr. and Waltrip. Truex Jr. ended up on the short end of the stick to bring out the caution on 478. Waltrip’s left front was smoking so the team pitted on lap 481 to bolt on four fresh tires and pull out the sheet metal. Unfortunately, when the race restarted on lap 486, Waltrip still had a problem on the left side of the car. The left rear tire was rubbing the sheet metal. He held on as long as he could until the tire was finally cut down sending him hard into the turn three wall on lap 491 to end a solid run.

The final five laps of the Sharpie 500 saw Kyle Busch and Mark Martin go head-to-head but it was Busch who had the advantage. He went on to win his fourth race of the season. The victory helped him close in on a Chase birth as he is now just 34 points out of the coveted 12-place position to make a run at the Sprint Cup title.

Rounding out the top-10 finishers were Martin, Marcos Ambrose, Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Matt Kenseth.

As for Waltrip’s teammates, David Reutimann finished 17th. Ambrose’s third place showing equates to his fourth top-five and eighth top-10 finish of the season.

This week the NASCAR Sprint Cup teams have their final weekend off. Waltrip is busy doing television. This Week in NASCAR will air tonight at 8 p.m. on SPEED. Then on Friday, he joins Phil Parsons and Rick Allen in the broadcast booth for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at the Chicagoland Speedway. Broadcast coverage of the race begins at 8:30 p.m. on SPEED.

Ambrose Crosses Finish Line Third at Bristol Motor Speedway

Bristol, Tenn. (August 23, 2009) – Saturday night Marcos Ambrose recorded his fourth top-five finish of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season crossing the finish line in third-place in his No. 47 Clorox® Toyota Camry at Bristol Motor Speedway. Ambrose was in contention for his first victory in the final eight laps of the 500-lap event as leader and eventual winner Kyle Busch battled Mark Martin for his fourth victory this year. Busch was able to hold off Martin to seal the deal while Greg Biffle finished fourth and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five.

“Just a wonderful night for me,” Ambrose said. “My first year in the Cup Series -- to be racing with Mark in his thousandth start, racing with Kyle Busch, who will probably go down in history as one of the best of all time -- I just feel privileged to be out there and running with them. It was a great day for me, great night for my sponsors. We are a first-year team, and I am a first-year driver -- to be running up there like we did tonight is pretty special. I wanted to race them hard. You know you're in very special territory up there. I'm just thrilled to be up there and have the finish like we did with good car speed. I didn't have anything for Mark (Martin) and Kyle (Busch) there at the very end, but just a great night overall.”

On Friday, the 32-year-old qualified 25th at the .533-mile concrete oval while Mark Martin captured his fifth pole of the season. After the start of the 24th race of the year, Ambrose was moving ahead and in 21st place when the first caution flag waved at Lap 61. A few laps later he was on pit road for four tires and an air pressure adjustment because his No. 47 Clorox® Toyota was loose off and tight in the middle. When the field returned to green flag racing, Ambrose was scored in 20th place and still too tight in the middle.

By Lap 84, Ambrose made up some ground and moved inside the top 15. The Australian driver continued to pick off positions one by one and on Lap 125 he advanced inside the top 10. According to crew chief Frank Kerr, he was turning laps times quicker than leader Mark Martin.

Under caution for debris at Lap 135, Kerr called Ambrose to pit road for the JTG-Daugherty Racing pit crew to fuel the car and change four tires. Kerr told Ambrose he was not making any changes to the car.

“The pit crew did an amazing job all night and they picked up a couple of positions on that stop,” Ambrose said. “We decided not to make any changes. The car was pretty good, but it was sometimes floating the nose and it was at times breaking loose on me.”

The No. 47 Clorox® Toyota was in good company on the restart at Lap 144 in eight-place. Mark Martin led the way with Kurt Busch, Jimmie Johnson, David Reutimann and Greg Biffle making up the top five.

When the caution flag waved again at Lap 163, Kerr elected to keep Ambrose on track.

“The Clorox® Toyota was getting tighter as the race went on,” Ambrose said.

“At that point we were not going to do a whole lot to the car,” Kerr said. “It was pretty good.”

Running in eight-place on the restart at Lap 170, Ambrose moved up to sixth place nine laps later. On Lap 181, Ambrose was on the inside of David Reutimann’s No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry for fifth-place. As he completed the pass, Kerr keyed up the radio and told Ambrose he had the fastest car on the track.

On Lap 189, Ambrose was pleased when he passed three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson for fourth-place. At the same time, Ambrose was running lap times as fast as Martin who showed the way. Settling into fourth-place, Ambrose did not stay there for long and was on the outside of Kyle Busch on Lap 211 challenging for third-place. He completed the pass, but was mired in lap traffic while at the same time trying to chase down leader Martin. Kurt Busch was trying to protect second place.

On Lap 254, the No. 34 car of John Andretti shot up into the outside retaining wall bringing out another caution allowing the JTG-Daugherty Racing team to change four tires and go up a quarter-round on the track bar. Ambrose restarted in sixth-place on Lap 263 and was back inside the top-five the next lap. Nearly 21 laps later, Ambrose fell outside the top-five due to handling. His Clorox® Toyota was loose in and off and tight in the middle.

“I told Frank to go back on the changes,” Ambrose said. “We were too loose in and off and snug in the middle.”

On Lap 357 under caution, the JTG-Daugherty Racing team put everything back and bolted on four fresh Goodyear tires that allowed Ambrose to keep his Camry inside the top-10. When NASCAR waved the caution flag for rain at Lap 420, Ambrose was back on pit road.

“We were too tight in the middle still,” Ambrose said. “We were pushy loose off too.”

Restarting 8th on Lap 431, Ambrose wasted no time to return to the top-five three laps later. With the laps winding down, the two-time V8 Supercar champion protected his third-place position that he snatched away from Ryan Newman at Lap 466.

On another restart at Lap 486, Ambrose slipped from third to fifth as the caution flag waved again four laps later for an accident involving the No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota driven by Michael Waltrip. With eight laps remaining, NASCAR red flagged the event as Kyle Busch occupied first-place, Mark Martin was second, Greg Biffle third and Ambrose was fourth with Dale Earnhardt Jr. behind him. When the field got the green flag for the final time, Ambrose passed Greg Biffle for third while Martin was inside the No. 18 car of Kyle Busch battling for his fifth win of the season. Busch was able to hold him off for another victory and Ambrose posted his second third-place finish of the year.

“I don't feel like I'm comfortable just yet,” said Ambrose after his impressive finish. “I don't feel like I'm safe in the sport, I don't. Consistency is an issue for me. I have good runs like this and then I'll back it up like last week and run 35th. I feel privileged to be driving for Tad and Jody Geschickter (team owners, JTG-Daugherty). They have given me a chance of a lifetime and I want to pay them back as much as I can. We're just thrilled to be in the sport. Like I said, I didn't ask anything from anybody. I didn't expect to be given any breaks. I didn't want any special treatment. I knew I had to learn from scratch, fight my way up through the categories. I've finished top 10 both years in the Nationwide Series with a limited budget against the big Cup teams. Really proud of what we've done. We've kept growing, kept moving forward. We haven't finished. We announced a wonderful sponsor today in Kleenex. In a time where sponsorships are dropping and teams are reducing what they're doing, we're growing. It's just very exciting time for us.”

This weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series enjoys a weekend off. Next up is the Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, September 6th. Live coverage on ESPN and PRN Radio begins at 7 p.m. ET.

Ambrose Survives Long Day at Michigan

Sunday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway Marcos Ambrose started 26th and finished 36th behind the wheel of the No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota Camry Toyota in his 33rd career NASCAR Sprint Cup start. He completed 199 of 200 laps at the two-mile tri-oval and held on to 17th-place in the driver championship standings in his first full season of competition in the premiere division.

It was not the finish the JTG-Daugherty team was hoping for, especially following a win in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Zippo 200 and a runner-up finish in the Sprint Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International. The team is learning and growing from their experiences and this weekend is no different as they turned their focus to Bristol Motor Speedway where they had a shot at winning until experiencing mechanical problems. The JTG-Daugherty Racing team rallied back to finish 10th.

“We’ll put Michigan behind us and go on to Bristol,” Ambrose said. “Handling was a challenge for us. We got caught a lap down and we were not able to recover from that.”

After starting 26th, Ambrose’s Little Debbie® Toyota was snug in the middle. On Lap 6 of the 200-lap event, the race was red flagged due to light rain on the two-mile tri-oval. Once the 43-car field was rolling again, Ambrose dove to pit road for two tires and adjustments. He restarted 23rd and was closing in on the top-15.

“We were loose off the throttle,” Ambrose said. “As the race went on, we were loose in, tight in the middle and lose off.”

On Lap 44 under green, crew chief Frank Kerr called for four tires and changes to the Little Debbie® machine. A few laps later, Ambrose was actually looser with no front grip. Kerr and the JTG-Daugherty Racing team went back to work on the car under caution at Lap 54 making a track bar and air pressure adjustment. Mired back in traffic on the restart at Lap 58, Ambrose was 30th as Matt Kenseth led the field to green.

“I had no forward drive,” Ambrose said. “It was still loose in after the changes we made and had no front grip.”

On Lap 93, the pit crew had another opportunity to take a stab at it. They made more changes and put Ambrose back on track in 36th-place.

“We were still battling with having no front grip and we lost a lap to the leader,” Ambrose said. “The right front was really giving up.”

Back in on Lap 118 under caution, Kerr threw everything he had at it as the Little Debbie Toyota still had no grip and seemed to get worse as the race progressed. Once again the yellow flag waved 17 laps later, Ambrose was back on pit road for more service. Then Kerr brought him back in on Lap 150.

“With 50 laps to go, they changed four tires and put rubbers in the left rear and made a wedge adjustment,” Ambrose said. “They didn’t give up and just kept working on it.”

Back to green flag racing, Ambrose was in 35th-place still one lap down as his teammate David Reutimann led the field on Lap 152. A few laps later, it was back to pit road for Ambrose.

“We just kept pitting trying to improve the handling of the car,” Ambrose said.

With 39 laps remaining, Brian Vickers set the pace as Ambrose was in 35th-place. Vickers would go on to win the race and Ambrose crossed the finish line in 35th-place.
Live coverage of the Sharpie 500 on Saturday, August 22nd starts at 6:30 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. MRN and Sirius PRN will also carry the event beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

Macros Ambrose - Carfax 400 Preview

Brooklyn, Mich. (August 13, 2009) – Fair dinkum, Marcos Ambrose had a near perfect weekend at Watkins Glen International earning his second career NASCAR Nationwide Series Zippo 200 win for STP and then posting a runnerup finish on Monday in his No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota.Now, the Australian travels to Michigan International Speedway for race number 23 with the same desire and determination in hopes of capturing his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory to add to his three top-five and six top-10 finishes.

“On Saturday, it was the first Nationwide Series race I ran this year for STP and we won it and then came really close to winning the Cup race for Little Debbie and all of our sponsors,” Ambrose said. “We are getting it done as a team and we’ve got great equipment. We are ready to play with the big boys.

“We’ve had a great year and we can’t complain,” Ambrose continued. “Everything is a bonus from here on in. It has been a lot of fun and I love NASCAR. I just can’t wait to snag one on the Cup level. Who would have thought you would finish second and feel disappointed?”

“Fair dinkum, we just had a great weekend,” Ambrose added. “If you don’t know what fair dinkum means, it is something that is genuine. For example, If we’re talking about Tony Stewart and you say ‘Fair dinkum he’s the best’, that means he’s genuinely the best in your opinion. It is a term of endearment. People some times take me the wrong way and I’ve got in trouble with my pit crew. I’ve called them mates during a stop and they didn’t understand me. They thought I was actually bagging them out after the pit stop, but I was saying ‘good job mates’ and giving them a compliment.”

Frank Kerr, who led Ambrose to his second Zippo 200 victory and second-place finish in the Heluva Good! at The Glen, is still surprised by his No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota Cup team’s progress.

“If someone would have said that we were going to be 17th in points at this point, I would have said you were crazy,” Kerr said. “Even though Marcos is not called a rookie, he is a rookie and attends all the meetings. He just ran one too many races last year to have that status, but he still has the yellow stripe on his bumper. So, each week I remind him, ‘Well, there’s another top rookie deal you missed out on.’ We’re just happy for him that the car’s running well. A lot of the guys on our team came from the No. 44 and 00 teams. We adopted them and we are all enjoying the success we are having."

Mixed in with the success there have been a few hiccups with mechanical failures along the way that have kept the JTG-Daugherty team outside the top-12. There are always what ifs, but Kerr and his JTG-Daugherty Racing team are focused on the future and not the past.

“We take our licks and keep digging,” Kerr said. “Sure, take away the failures we had at Atlanta (Motor Speedway), Texas (Motor Speedway) and the problems we had at Bristol (Motor Speedway) and the wreck we were collected in at Pocono (Raceway), we would be well inside the top-15. But, that’s dumb racing luck and you can’t do anything about that. All I know is that Marcos has developed into a great race car driver. I don’t think he has a bad place on the circuit. Earlier this year, we thought man we are going to Bristol and didn’t know how he would do. He actually had a shot at winning there until he dropped a cylinder. We’re really looking forward to going back there next week.”

Before the team can focus on Bristol Motor Speedway, their mindset is Michigan International Speedway where they admit to struggling earlier this year. Ambrose started 33rd and finished 31st.

“We can’t go back to the setup we had at Michigan because the whole company ran bad,” Kerr said. “We’re bringing a new car with a different package. Every race at Michigan is about fuel. Throughout history it has come down to fuel mileage. We’ve tested at a few tracks for it and Toyota has worked hard on that. We had an incredible weekend at Watkins Glen thanks to Toyota and we are hoping to have another good one at Michigan.”

Kerr's driver realizes Watkins Glen was a piece of cake. Now, Ambrose is wanting to transfer that success and conquer the two-mile Michigan tri-oval that was a hurdle for his JTG-Daugherty Racing team in June.

“I wonder if I can be successful on a tricky road course, how come I can’t get out of my own way on an oval some days,” Ambrose said. “I guess certain tracks suit certain people and some drivers are just brilliant everywhere. That’s where I hope to be one day. I want to be one of those guys that can convert to an oval, a short track, a superspeedway or a road course like we had at Watkins Glen.”

And then there are the dirt tracks. Ambrose has turned laps on three different dirt tracks over the course of six days to brace himself for the fifth annual Gillette Young Guns Prelude to the Dream on Wednesday, September 9th at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. On Friday night he raced at Black Rock Speedway in Dundee, N.Y. in a celebrity race against David Reutimann, Bob Dillner, Michael McDowell and others. Then on Tuesday, he tested his 2,300-pound dirt Late Model Prelude stock car owned by Bob Straight at Cherokee Speedway in South Carolina. That same night he raced in the GM Perf Late Models feature at Carolina Speedway in Gastonia (N.C.) and finished 14th. Tonight, Ambrose and Kerr along with Trevor Bayne will stop in at Fremont Speedway to make several laps behind the wheel of an 1,100 pound, 850 horsepower sprint car at the one-third mile clay oval.

"One of our local drivers was at Indy visiting with Frank when NASCAR was there and gave Marcos a sprint car t-shirt and jokingly told him that's what a real race car looks like,” ," said Fremont Speedway Promoter Rich Farmer. “Marcos said he always wanted to drive a sprint car and one thing led to another and with Frank's connections to Fremont, they decided to come out and have some fun on the dirt.”

Kerr moved to Fremont, Ohio when he earned four All Star Circuit of Champion sprint car titles in the 1990s. In fact, Kerr's last All Star feature victory came at Fremont Speedway during an Ohio Speedweek event. After which, Kerr retired from driving and later became a valuable crew chief in the NASCAR ranks. Live coverage of the Carfax 400 on Sunday, August 16th starts at 1 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. MRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio will also carry the event.

Ambrose Scores Career-Best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Finish with Second-Place at The Glen

Watkins Glen, N.Y. (August 10, 2009) – Following his second career NASCAR Nationwide Series Zippo 200 victory on Saturday, Marcos Ambrose scored his career-best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series finish by crossing the finish line in second-place at Watkins Glen International in his No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota.

“The Cup car is just so aggressive to drive and I had to work really hard to keep up with ‘Smoke’ (Tony Stewart),” Ambrose said. “I was closing in, but he didn’t make a mistake. I feel privileged to be racing against him and to drive for my team. I’m just so proud of all my guys for giving me great stuff all year. JTG-Daugherty (Racing) is here to stay. It’s a really exciting time for us.”

Tony Stewart was the winner while Carl Edwards finished third behind Ambrose, Kyle Busch was fourth and Greg Biffle rounded out the top-five. Ambrose’s third top-five finish of the year moved him and his JTG-Daugherty Racing team up to 17th in the driver and owner championship points standings.

“We didn't quite have enough to get Tony (Stewart) there at the end,” Ambrose said. “I threw everything I could at him. We got off on strategy at one point and got stuck in the back of the pack and had to make a gamble. We came in and splashed off fuel -- didn't put tires on it. I think that was the difference between first and second here this afternoon, was just the extra laps I did on my tires, probably eight or 10 more laps than Tony.
I could close in on him, I could see him starting to make a few little mistakes, locking tires, but not enough for me to catch him. I’m just really proud of my team. We didn't quite close the deal, but it's just been a great weekend for us. I’m really excited for our future.”

Starting the race in fourth-place to polesitter Jimmie Johnson, Ambrose’s Little Debbie® Toyota was loose and had no grip as he rounded the 2.45-mile road course. By Lap 3, Johnson had been passed by both Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin as Ambrose was next in line to do the same. Seven laps later, the 32-year-old completed the pass by the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and set his sights on the top two.

With the first caution of the race at Lap 17, Ambrose reiterated to crew chief Frank Kerr that he was too loose and had lost grip. Kerr elected to keep Ambrose out on the road course to stick to their game plan and stay in their fuel window. The field came down pit road at Lap 19 minus Ambrose and only few others.

“We had to stick to our fuel strategy game,” Kerr said. “Marcos was one of three cars that stayed out.”“We were loose and didn’t have good forward drive at that point,” Ambrose said.

Ambrose was second and immediately snatched first-place from Kasey Kahne after the green flag waved.

“Of course, the car was much better in clean air,” Ambrose said. At Lap 23 while still in the lead, Ambrose and Kerr were faced with the decision to pit or not to pit when the yellow flag was displayed for an incident involving David Stremme spinning around collecting Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon. Ambrose was in first place, Kasey Kahne was second, Kurt Bush occupied third, Kyle Busch was running fourth and Jimmie Johnson was fifth at the time. Out of that group, Kahne relinquished his spot to head to pit road while the other four in the top-five stayed out. “It was still too early for fuel,” Kerr said. “We decided to pit on our cycle and not deviate from that strategy. We made the right choice. I wasn’t panicking yet.” “We had to still stick to our plan,” Ambrose said.

Ambrose led the field back to green flag racing on Lap 26 with Kurt Busch in second, Kyle Busch in third, Johnson in fourth and Greg Biffle in fifth. Ambrose fought to hold the Busch brothers off to maintain the lead even though he was about the only car that hadn’t been to pit road. One lap later, the No. 2 car completed the pass and Ambrose fell to second. On Lap 29, Kurt Busch gave up the lead and headed to pit road. Ambrose was back out front. The next lap the No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota entered pit road under green for the first time for four tires and fuel. Johnson was the new leader, Kyle Busch was second and Stewart was third. Exiting pit road, Ambrose was 35th.

Another caution at Lap 43, allowed the JTG-Daugherty Racing team to bring Ambrose back down pit road for four fresh Goodyear tires and fuel. Their strategy was to only stop one more time for a splash of fuel as Kerr told his driver everyone else would have to take four tires. At that point, Kerr and his crew knew they were going to be 11 laps short. “In the end, we had to get a splash of fuel not matter what,” Kerr said. “Everyone ahead of us was going to have to take four tires and all we had to take was a splash of fuel.”Ambrose restarted 31st on Lap 45 with Kyle Busch showing the way. By Lap 53, he had broken into the top-20 as Stewart snatched the lead.

On Lap 55 while running 15th, Kerr called Ambrose to pit road under green for his splash of fuel while Stewart and others ahead of him followed suit. Ambrose was back on track and in 8th-place knowing he was two laps short on fuel.

At Lap 59, Ambrose returned to the top-five and was scored in fifth-place with a really loose-handling race car. The next time around he was fourth and Scott Speed was in the lead with Kyle Busch second and Stewart in third.

All the sudden a horrific crash involving Sam Hornish Jr. happened on Lap 62 when the No. 9 car of Kasey Kahne got loose and made contact with the No. 77 entry. The wreck was spectacular collecting Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Joey Logano and a few others leaving no choice, but for NASCAR to red flag the 90-lap event at Lap 63. “We were still a lap or two short on fuel at that point,” Kerr said. “Each caution, I told him to save fuel and to coast around with the motor off. I hoped we had enough to make it to the end.”

At 2:29 p.m. ET the red flag was lifted and the race restarted at Lap 66 with Kyle Busch in the lead and Ambrose in third. The next time around Stewart had passed Busch for first. Then it was Ambrose’s turn to pass him for second and on Lap 68 he did just that.

The caution at Lap 70 for a tire in the middle of the track from the No. 19 car of Elliott Sadler was a big relief for Ambrose, Kerr and his JTG-Daugherty Racing team. “I keyed up the microphone and told Marcos that we were in good shape on fuel when the caution came out,” Kerr said.

On Lap 73, Ambrose was lined up beside the No. 14 of Stewart ready for battle. Back under green, Ambrose was running lap times as fast as the leader. However, Stewart started to slightly distance himself from the No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota. Ambrose kept the leader in sight with ten laps to go, but was not able to gain ground on Stewart who went on to win the 22nd race of the 2009 season.

This week the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series travels to Michigan International Speedway. Live coverage of the on Sunday, August 16th starts at 1 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. MRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio will also carry the event.

CARPENTIER FORCED TO SETTLE WITH 33rd-PLACE FINISH AT WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Patrick Carpentier, subbing for Michael Waltrip, felt like he was a moving target during today’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International. Having qualified 17th in a back-up car, the Canadian driver worked his way up to 12th position before being spun out by an overzealous driver. It was followed by three more similar incidents with the worst happening on lap 69 that put the NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota behind the wall for repairs. The team got back out to finish in 33rd position.

“We had a great car,” said Carpentier after the race. “I cannot believe the number of times I got spun out today. I was getting to think that maybe I made a few people angry at Infineon Raceway and it was payback. Some days you are just the bug on the windshield.

“The NAPA team did a great job for me today. Bootie (Barker) made good calls on the adjustments because each time we pitted, the car got better. It’s a shame our result did not match the quality of car we had.”

For the second week in a row, rain postponed the race until Monday. Jimmie Johnson led the field to the green flag with JTG-Daugherty Racing’s Marcos Ambrose on his heels. It took just 21 laps for the Aussie to take the lead and produce impressive lap times. The NAPA Toyota was not far behind in 12th position. Unfortunately, a top-10 was taken away when David Stremme took out Carpentier on lap 21. The contact put the NAPA team back to 37th position. Then three laps later, the caution was back out for another Stremme move. This time he collected the cars of Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick.

The race restarted on lap 26. Carpentier battled back moving from 37th to 22nd by lap 50. All the hard work fell by the side when Ryan Newman lost his brakes and struck the NAPA Toyota. The contact cost the NAPA team 11 positions. Despite the setback, Carpentier was still fast and determined to get back into contention.

A spectacular-looking crash involving Kasey Kahne, Sam Hornish Jr. and Jeff Gordon occurred on lap 63. Kahne’s car broke loose making contact with Hornish and Gordon. The Hornish and Gordon machines slammed hard into the retaining walls. Both drivers were OK, but their cars were demolished. Kahne was able to continue on as debris forced NASCAR to red flag the race just as Carpentier entered onto pit road which was closed. It caused the NAPA car to be penalized and put back to the tail end of the lead-lap cars, but it allowed the team to visually evaluate the car and a cooling-system problem.

“It was so hot in my car that it took my breath away,” described the driver.

When the race was back under yellow, the team put on four fresh tires and attempted to fix the cooling system. When the NAPA Toyota returned to the track, it was scored in 30th position. Kyle Busch was the leader.

The green flag waved on lap 66. As before, Carpentier wasted no time in picking off valuable real estate. He climbed from 30th to 24th position in just four laps. Then on lap 70, the car of Elliott Sadler spun on the track. Carpentier was in position to clear Sadler’s car but was suddenly stuck from behind by the car driven by David Ragan. The contact slammed the NAPA Toyota into Sadler. The damage was significant and after evaluating the NAPA Toyota on pit road, the team had no choice but to go behind the wall for repairs. Barker’s goal was to repair the car before Sadler’s team in hopes of picking up one spot on the track. The plan appeared to work as Carpentier had half a lap on Sadler’s damaged machine. But shortly after the white flag waved, the NAPA Toyota was spun out one last time by Ragan.

“I really appreciated everything the NAPA team did for me today,” added Carpentier. “They worked hard to get me back out there to try and salvage a finish. But wouldn’t you know we got hit again on the final lap.”

JTG-Daugherty Racing’s Marcos Ambrose led eight laps of the race and was looking to make the Watkins Glen sweep after winning Saturday’s Nationwide event. But Tony Stewart played the spoiler relegating Ambrose to a second-place finish.

Finishing behind Stewart and Ambrose to round out the top-10 were Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kurt Busch, Max Papis, Clint Bowyer and Denny Hamlin.

As for Michael Waltrip Racing driver David Reutimann, he finished where he started in 25th place.

This week, Michael Waltrip returns to the NAPA Toyota for the second and final race of the season at Michigan International Speedway. Broadcast coverage of the Carfax 400 will get underway Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN. It can also be heard on Sirius XM Satellite Radio and MRN.

REUTIMANN FINISHES 25TH AT WATKINS GLEN

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (August 10, 2009) – David Reutimann arrived in Watkins Glen 121 points out of 12th place in the points standings and in need of a solid finish to keep from falling too far behind with only a handful of races before the cutoff for the Chase. While Monday’s “Heluva Good! at The Glen” might not have gone as well as he hoped, Reutimann’s 25th-place finish was enough to keep him within striking distance of the top 12 in points.

To prepare for the second road course on NASCAR’s Sprint Cup schedule David Reutimann spent a lot of time training with road-course specialists and teammates Patrick Carpentier and Marcos Ambrose. “The more practice you get the better prepared you become,” said Reutimann. “Basically, each additional lap I make at a road course the more I learn about how I should drive these tracks.”

Starting 25th, Reutimann struggled with a loose Aaron’s Dream Machine, but crew chief Rodney Childers and the Aaron’s crew went to work on Reutimann’s first pit stop on lap 17. The No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine got four new tires and an air pressure adjustment to help the handling.

When the second caution came out on lap 23 Childers opted to keep his driver on the track. Knowing that passing is difficult at Watkins Glen, this pit strategy would work in their favor, pushing Reutimann up to 16th.

On lap 63, NASCAR threw a red flag, stopping the race action to clean up the debris from a horrific accident involving Sam Hornish, Jeff Gordon, and Jeff Burton. When the race restarted Reutimann was in 17th.

During the late stages of the race Reutimann fell back into the 29th position after getting a bump from the No. 08 of Boris Said, but was able to battle back to finish 25th.

“It’s a little disappointing,” said Reutimann. “I was hoping to gain some ground on the Chase contenders and it looked like that might happen, but we did the best with the car we had at the end. We’ll regroup and I know Rodney and the guys will give me a great Aaron’s Dream Machine for Michigan next week.”

After Monday’s 25th-place finish, Reutimann maintained his 16th position in the driver’s points. With four races left before the Chase, he’s only 155 points behind 12th place Matt Kenseth.

Tony Stewart held off Reutimann’s teammate Marcos Ambrose to pick up the win. Rounding out the top five were Carl Edwards, Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle.

Next week the Sprint Cup series returns to Michigan International Speedway for the Carfax 400 on Sunday, August 16. ESPN will provide television coverage beginning at 1 p.m.

Ambrose Pulls Double Duty at Site of first NASCAR Victory

Watkins Glen, NY (August 5, 2009) – Certain places stand out on a driver’s résumé’ and Watkins Glen International is definitely one that sticks out for Australian driver Marcos Ambrose. Last year, he became a first-time NASCAR race winner taking the checkered flag in the Nationwide Series Zippo 200 driving for JTG-Daugherty Racing owned by Tad and Jodi Geschickter and Brad Daugherty. The victory was exoneration for the Tasmania-born two-time V8 Supercar champion.

“It was a big relief to be able to win my first NASCAR race because I drug my family halfway around the world,” said Ambrose, who passed Jeff Burton’s car with five laps to go. “Then the Cup race on Sunday felt like a win too.”

For his first Cup race at The Glen, he started 43rd and finished third in only his third start. Ambrose’s impressive run with Wood Brothers landed him his career-best finish by crossing the finish line in third-place.

Now, Ambrose is pulling double duty again at the 2.45-mile road course. On Saturday, he climbs behind the wheel of the No. 47 STP Octane Booster Toyota Camry fielded by JTG-Daugherty Racing and looks to repeat with support from his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) crew chief Frank Kerr and his No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota Racing pit crew.
Then on Sunday, Ambrose aims to supersede his career-best finish matched at Sonoma (Infineon Raceway) this season.

“We have had some great runs on ovals, superspeedways and at a road course,” Ambrose said. “This is only our first year and we are still getting our legs under us. We had no expectations and we are pleasantly surprised at our progress in such a short amount of time.”

Ambrose’s progression is obvious and this past weekend at Pocono Raceway he was on track for another top-10 finish, but he was taken out of contention.

“We finished sixth at Pocono the first time there and we wanted to do better,” Ambrose said. “We were running in the top-10 and moving forward until we were collected in an accident. Not sure what happened there. We were running in the top-10 and all of a sudden David (Reutimann) got turned. I had nowhere to go.”

“If he (Denny) would have checked up just a little, I could have got the Aaron’s Dream Machine straight and we would have been alright,” Reutimann said. “I felt bad for Marcos. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We both had good cars and would have left there with a solid finish.”

JTG-Daugherty Racing has had a solid first half to their first full-time Cup effort. In 21 starts, they have accrued two top-five, five top-10, and 12 top-20 finishes and currently occupy 18th-place in the NSCS championship standings.

Following Pocono, Ambrose left Monday afternoon straight to Dover International Speedway for a two-day Goodyear tire test.

“I’ve been gone from home since Thursday,” Ambrose said. “I miss my family. It’s tough to be away from home when you have two little ones. I’ll have some time with them on Thursday before we fly out to Watkins Glen.”

This Cup business is new to Ambrose and he is still learning how to adapt to the schedule.

“Racing on the Cup level, you can lose a year of not doing things you like to do because you are so intense at the track and you are traveling around the circuit,” Ambrose said. “When I get my chance, I force myself to get out there and do things. Like this past weekend in Pocono, I took my $20 rafts and went fishing. I was pleased with the rafts, but the rain turned the creek into rapids and the fish weren’t biting. The water was high, but we made it down and back safely. I’m not sure what I will get into at Watkins Glen. I don’t think I’ll have much time.”

In addition to Ambrose running the Nationwide and Cup Series events, he will be kicking up some dirt at Black Rock Speedway in Dundee (N.Y.) Friday night.

"I'll have to have some dirt experience before I run the fifth annual Gillette Young Guns Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway,” Ambrose said. “So, that's what I'm trying to do. We’ll have a lot of fun out at Black Rock.”

Live coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide Series Zippo 200 at The Glen on Sunday, August 8th kicks off at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Live coverage of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen on Sunday, August 9th starts at 1 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. MRN and Sirius XM Satellite Radio will also carry the events.