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Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 Report
AMBROSE
RECORDS A SECOND STRONG SHORT TRACK FINISH
MARTINSVILLE, VA — Marcos
Ambrose finished 14th in the No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota
Camry on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway during the sixth
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of the 2009 season.
“It’s awesome that we were able to get
away with a top 10 and a top-15 (finish) in my first
two short tracks – I’ll take it!”, Ambrose
said.
With two back-to-back impressive short track finishes,
Ambrose is now 21st in the points standings
and is only 98 points out of tenth-place entering Texas
Motor Speedway with his JTG Daugherty Racing team.
“I’m kind of over this short track stuff – let’s
go back to a normal speedway,” Ambrose said.
Ambrose entered Martinsville Speedway fresh off a tenth
place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway. He started
the 500 lap event at the .526-mile oval
24th after rain forced NASCAR to cancel qualifying
and set the 43-car field by points standings on Friday.
Rain also washed out both early day practice sessions
on Saturday.
As the race began on Sunday afternoon, the Australian
driver was within the top 20 before Lap 30. With limited
practice, NASCAR implemented a competition yellow 10
laps later that gave teams an opportunity to work on
their cars.
“My Little Debbie® Toyota was pushing and
I was having an issue with forward bite,” said
Ambrose, whose team changed four tires and dropped
the track bar a half of round.
Some teams opted not to pit during the competition
yellow so when the green flag waved at Lap 47, Ambrose
went back to work in 30th place. By Lap 82, Ambrose
was running lap times as fast as the leader, Jeff Gordon.
Six laps later, the No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota
reentered the top 20.
When another caution occurred at Lap 90, crew chief
Frank Kerr elected to keep Ambrose on the track to
gain valuable track position. Staying out, placed Ambrose
in the top 10.
“We were able to position ourselves in the top
10,” Ambrose said. “That was about the
time I was starting to worry about my brakes. Also,
the right rear was giving up and it needed to rotate
better.”
Ambrose stayed in the top 10 for 25 laps. He was inside
the top 15 when the caution flag was thrown at Lap
138. Two laps later, the pit crew placed on four fresh
Goodyear tires and put in a half a round of wedge in
the left rear. Ambrose restarted 14th on Lap 143.
As the race progressed, Ambrose maintained a top 20
run. Approaching halfway, his No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota
was in 16th place and running the same lap times as
the race leader. At Lap 257, Ambrose came
down pit road under caution for more service.
“He was the best on that long run,” Kerr
said. “We put on four tires on that stop and
made an air pressure adjustment.”
“The car came to me when it burned fuel,” Ambrose
said.
With 21 cars on the lead lap at 264, Ambrose took the
green in 14th place. On Lap 325, his Toyota would not
turn through the middle, but he managed to prolong
his top 15 run. On Lap 352, Ambrose told Kerr that
he was losing his brakes. Fortunately, a caution gave
the team a chance to figure out the problem, change
tires and make adjustments. After coming in for tires
on Lap 354, Ambrose came back in for the JTG Daugherty
Racing crew to add brake fluid.
Ambrose restarted 19th on Lap 358. With the car rolling
better and Ambrose overcoming his brake issue, it did
not take long for him to reenter the top 15. With 97
laps to go, Kerr told Ambrose he had the fastest car
on the track. At Lap 416, Ambrose was as fast as the
race leader again even though he was still
struggling with forward bite.
On the last stop of the afternoon under caution, Kerr
opted for only two tires and adjustments on Lap 429.
Ambrose restarted 10th on Lap 433. As the laps dwindled,
Ambrose held on for another strong finish crossing
the finish line 14th at Martinsville Speedway.
“We had old tires on there at the end and we
were able to stay on the lead lap all day," Ambrose
said. I just have to thank my JTG Daugherty Racing
crew so much – Frankie and everyone involved.
They give me awesome cars and we just keep getting
better. I also have to thank all the guys at Michael
Waltrip Racing who help us with our partnership back
at the shop. They do a great job and give us great
stuff every week. We’re reliable, we’re
fast and it’s just been a lot of fun.” Contributed
by Chip Warren, JTG Daugherty Racing
Goody's Fast Pain Relief
500 Results:
1. Jimmie Johnson
2. Denny Hamlin
3. Tony Stewart
4. Jeff Gordon
5. Clint Bowyer
6. Ryan Newman
7. Mark Martin
8. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
9. A.J. Allmendinger
10. Jamie McMurray
14. Marcos Ambrose
Next Race — Samsung
500:
Where: Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, TX
When: Sunday, April 5, 2009
Network & Time: FOX Television, 1:30 p.m.
/ PRN Radio, 1 p.m.
All Times Eastern
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Previous Reports:
2/17 Daytona
2/22 Fontana
3/1 Las
Vegas
3/8 Atlanta
3/22 Bristol
3/29 Martinsville
4/5 Texas
4/18 Phoenix
4/26 Talladega
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