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Food City 500 Report

LATE RACE ACCIDENT ENDS AMBROSE'S HOPES
FOR A TOP-FIVE FINISH AT "THE WORLD'S FASTEST HALF-MILE"


BRISTOL, TN Marcos Ambrose’s hopes for a top-five finish in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway were derailed when his No. 47 Little Debbie Toyota was collected in a big accident on lap 341. Ambrose completed 448 of 500 laps and finished the race in 33rd-place.

“It’s a shame because we had the car to beat,” Ambrose said.

After starting ninth and running as high as fourth, Ambrose’s JTG Daugherty Racing-owned car sustained significant damage when he was collected in an incident along with at least 11 other cars. It all began when Greg Biffle and Mark Martin made contact with one another. Martin bounced off the wall and shot down the track and back up the banking in front of Jeff Gordon and a pack of cars. Ambrose was directly behind Gordon and had nowhere to go as the No. 42 car of Juan Pablo Montoya plowed into his left rear. Ambrose was sandwiched between Martin and Montoya and received the brunt of the pileup.

The Australian driver was just outside the top-10 with one of the fastest cars on the .533-mile concrete oval before going behind pit wall for his pit crew to cut away sheet metal and make major repairs. Thanks to swift work by his JTG Daugherty Racing team, Ambrose returned to the track 50 laps later to avoid a DNF and gain a couple more positions.

“My guys did a great job to get us back out on track,” Ambrose said.

Looking back, as Ambrose started the race he was running in the top 10 when he made his first pit stop at lap 43 under caution. Once crew chief Frank Kerr called for a slight wedge adjustment and Ambrose left pit road, NASCAR deemed he was too fast exiting. Ambrose had to drop to the tail end of the longest line and restart 33rd on lap 46.

“We were penalized twice by NASCAR for pit road penalties - - once for exiting and once for entering too fast,” Ambrose said. “We’re going to take a hard look at that and see what happened there.”

It did not seem to matter because Ambrose’s car was good enough to charge through the field each time. He occupied 15th place when he pitted under caution at lap 115 for four tires and a slight air adjustment.

“It was losing the nose in traffic and a little loose in,” Ambrose said.

Ambrose was 14th as the green flag waved, but not for long. It seemed like every lap Ambrose picked off a position. By lap 168 he was 10th and by lap 190 he was fifth. He had his sights set on leader Juan Pablo Montoya and was reeling him in.

On lap 202, he was side-by-side with Kurt Busch for fourth and completed the pass as the caution flag waved because Kasey Kahne had stopped on the backstretch.

Ambrose entered pit road for four tires and fuel. Kerr did not want to make any drastic changes because Ambrose was that good.

“We were still a little loose in and the car wouldn’t rotate like I wanted it to, but it was manageable,” Ambrose said.

As Ambrose exited pit road, it was déjà vu. This time he was too fast entering and had to drop to the tail end of the longest line and restart 28th. He was 21st when he pitted the next time under caution for four tires and an air adjustment at lap 265. He went back to work in 19th place.

It did not take long for Ambrose to move into the top 15 on lap 285. He was back to tenth place at lap 317 when he entered pit road for four tires and another air pressure adjustment.

He restarted in 13th place and it was evident he still had a stout car capable of finishing in the top five or possibly winning. Ambrose began his march again when all of the sudden his efforts were disrupted, and he was taken out of contention the Biffle - Martin incident.

“We were fortunate to even finish the race because we had so much damage,” Ambrose said. “We’ll put this one behind us and move on to Martinsville. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We’ve got to have better luck.” Courtesy Jennifer Chapple, JTG Daugherty Racing


Food City 500 Results:
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Tony Stewart
3. Kurt Busch
4. Greg Biffle
5. Matt Kenseth
6. Carl Edwards
7. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
8. Jamie McMurray
9. Kyle Busch
10. Jeff Burton
33. Marcos Ambrose


Next Race — Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500:
Where: Martinsville Speedway, Martinsville, VA
Time: Sunday, March 28, 2010
Network & Time: FOX Television, 1:00 p.m. / PRN Radio, 12 p.m.
All Times Eastern


Previous Reports:
2/14 Daytona
2/21 Fontana
2/28 Las Vegas
3/7 Atlanta
3/21 Bristol
3/30 Martinsville
4/10 Phoenix
4/19 Texas
4/25 Talladega
5/1 Richmond
5/8 Darlington
5/16 Dover
5/22 All-Star Race
5/30 Charlotte
6/6 Pocono
6/13 Michigan
6/20 Sonoma
6/27 New Hampshire
7/3 Daytona


2010 Point Standings:
1. Kevin Harvick — 2684
2. Jeff Gordon — 2472
3. Jimmie Johnson — 2459
4. Kurt Busch — 2439
5. Denny Hamlin — 2400
6. Kyle Busch — 2376
7. Matt Kenseth — 2322
8. Jeff Burton — 2319
9. Tony Stewart — 2251
10. Greg Biffle — 2234
11. D. Earnhardt, Jr. — 2177
12. Carl Edwards — 2170
27. M. Ambrose — 1660