Heluva Good! Sour Creap Dips 400 Report

AMBROSE REBOUNDS FROM ACCIDENT TO CAPTURE TOP-15 FINISH AT MICHIGAN

BROOKLYN, MI — Marcos Ambrose came over the radio and told his JTG Daugherty Racing team “Boys, we finished the race and now let’s go get us a win this week” after crossing the finish line 15th at Michigan International Speedway.

Ambrose rebounded from being wrecked on lap 19 by the No. 78 machine of Regan Smith. Smith’s car was really tight and slid up the track and hit Ambrose sending his No. 47 Clorox Toyota sailing through the infield grass with visible damage to his Camry. Ambrose, who was running 17th at the time, could not have done anything differently and it was another case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“When I started spinning down the track, I was like, oh no, not again,” Ambrose said. “I thought, we can’t catch a break. It’s another case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and we just got wrecked.”

The JTG Daugherty Racing team kept their cool and rallied together to pit Ambrose right away. They changed four tires and made repairs. They went one lap down, but crew chief Frank Kerr told everyone to stay calm because they would get their lap back.

The car, which had been posting top-10 lap times before the damage, was not the same after the incident. Ambrose restarted 42nd one lap down on Lap 22 and was immediately facing handling issues.

“The car was definitely not the same,” Ambrose said. “It was aero-loose and crazy tight.”

However, Ambrose was patient and told his team exactly what he needed to improve the No. 47. At lap 48, the team finally caught a break and advanced back onto the lead lap thanks to a debris caution. When Ambrose came to pit road, his pit crew changed four tires, made a track bar adjustment and continued to work on the body as well as the right-side crush panel that was pushed in.

When the green flag was in the air at lap 51, Denny Hamlin led the field and Ambrose was 36th. At that point, Ambrose keyed up the radio and continued reporting about the handling to Kerr.

“We really need to get the front down,” Ambrose said. “The left front is high.”

Regardless, Ambrose was on the move and making forward progress. On pit road under green at lap 89, the JTG Daugherty Racing pit crew changed four tires and made a chassis adjustment because Ambrose was too loose on the right rear.

When the next caution happened at lap 100, Kerr called for four tires, for the crew to go back on the track bar and make an air pressure adjustment. Holding 26th when the field returned to racing at lap 103, Ambrose made his way into the top 20 only 11 laps later.

Not saying much on the radio, he continued his march forward, Ambrose finally told Kerr he needed a little wedge in the left rear.

By lap 128, he was passing Ryan Newman for 15th.

“I was loose in and off and it was tight in the center,” Ambrose said. “Twitchy.”

On his next green flag pit stop at lap 139, he received four tires, an air and wedge adjustment. He continued to battle being loose in, tight in the middle and loose off. The team took another stab at it under yellow at lap 172 with wedge and air along with changing four tires.

“The track was changing at that point and we were chasing it,” Ambrose said. “After we made those changes, we were still loose off.”

One last caution allowed the team to make final adjustments. They changed four tires, took air out of the right rear and went down on the track bar because Ambrose was still loose. Ambrose restarted 16th on lap 186 and was able maintain his stride to bring home a top-15 finish.

Ambrose’s inflection in his voice was enough to express to his team that he was happy to bring home the car in one piece after being collected in accidents because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time in the past few weeks.

“It’s just a relief and I told the boys, let’s load up and get us a win in Sonoma,” Ambrose said. Courtesy Jennifer Chapple, JTG Daugherty Racing

Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 Results:
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Kasey Kahne
3. Kurt Busch
4. Jeff Gordon
5. Tony Stewart
6. Jimmie Johnson
7. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
8. Jeff Burton
9. Greg Biffle
10. Joey Logano
15. Marcos Ambrose

Next Race — Toyota / Save Mart 350:
Where: Infineon Raceway, Sonoma, CA
Time: Sunday, June 20, 2010
Network & Time: TNT Television, 3 p.m. / PRN Radio, 2 p.m.
All Times Eastern

2010 Point Standings:
1. Kevin Harvick — 3521
2. Jeff Gordon — 3242
3. Kyle Busch — 3170
4. Carl Edwards — 3113
5. Denny Hamlin — 3108
6. Tony Stewart — 3107
7. Jeff Burton — 3101
8. Matt Kenseth — 3095
9. Jimmie Johnson — 3077
10. Kurt Busch — 3073
11. Greg Biffle — 3055
12. Clint Bowyer — 2920
26. M. Ambrose — 2276