|
Auto Club 500 Report
AMBROSE
CONTINUES SOLID START TO '09 SEASON
FONTANA, CA — Marcos
Ambrose has continued to make a solid start to his first
full season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, finishing
21st in the Auto Club 500 at Auto Club Speedway.
Ambrose had an up-and-down day in the 250-lap event,
ending with a solid midfield position in the 43-car
field and narrowly missing a second straight top 20
finish.
The Australian enjoyed a strong start to the day in
the No. 47 Little Debbie® sponsored JTG Daugherty
race car, starting from 14th position and knocking
on the door of the top 10 throughout the opening two
stints.
After the second round of pit stops at the middle
stages of the race, a set-up change greatly affected
the handling of Ambrose's car. Crew chief Frank Kerr
and the entire team worked hard at each pit stop to
return the car to its early performance.
Entering the final stage of the race, changes including
altered tire pressures paid dividends and Ambrose was
able to rise up the order, passing cars such as Clint
Bowyer, Reed Sorenson and Paul Menard to reach 19th
position with just a handful of laps remaining.
Unfortunately,
over the final few laps Ambrose’s
car lost rear grip as a result of badly worn rear tires
and he dropped positions to Bowyer, Bobby Labonte and
Sorenson to finish the event in 21st position.
The finish puts Ambrose in 20th position in this year’s
Sprint Cup Series points standings after two races,
leading into the Shelby 427 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
in Las Vegas, Nevada next weekend.
Matt Kenseth won his second-consecutive Sprint Cup
race by claiming victory in the Auto Club 500 today
ahead of Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch.
What the Team Has to Say:
MARCOS AMBROSE, Driver of the No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota
“We just have to be a little conservative here
to start the season to make sure we lock ourselves
in on points, to take all that pressure off of us by
not having to qualify into these races.
“So it’s exciting for us to have a solid
finish, although we had some troubles today.
“We had a better car than where we finished
but we’ll take that position. I’m learning
and getting more confident every day and I feel like
it’s a good foundation, although leaving the
track right now I feel just a little frustrated.
“We made an adjustment on the second stop that
really hurt the balance and handling of the car. We
lost a lap during that time and we never got it back,
and that’s what hurt us, just track position
and getting trapped a lap down.
“Basically we were racing the guys on our lap
there until the end, but that’s the nature of
the business in this racing. You’ve got to be
on your game every single run and we’ve made
an error with the balance of the car and we paid the
price.
“But in general we had a car that handled well
for most of the day and I think it was a solid result.
“I ran out of rear tires towards the end. The
right rear was gone and the left rear was worn out
a lot as well and I was sliding around a lot. They
(the following cars) just ganged up on me basically
and just trapped me in the middle (of the race track)
and I had to back-pedal it to get out of the situation
and I lost a couple of spots.
“Very unfortunate but it’s the nature
of the beast. We passed those guys early in the run
but they came back to get us in the end.”
Contributed by BAM Media
Auto Club 500 Results:
1. Matt Kenseth
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Kyle Busch
4. Greg Biffle
5. Kurt Busch
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Carl Edwards
8. Tony Stewart
9. Jimmie Johnson
10. Brian Vickers
21. Marcos Ambrose
Next Race — The
Shelby 427:
Where: Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Las Vegas,
Nevada
Time: Sunday, March 1, 2009; 3:30 p.m.
EST
Network: FOX Television/PRN Radio – Live
Coverage
|
