|
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
|
