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Carfax 400
AMBROSE
SURVIVES LONG DAY AT MICHIGAN
BROOKLYN, MI — Sunday
afternoon at Michigan International Speedway Marcos Ambrose
started 26th and finished 35th behind the wheel of the
No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota Camry
in his 33rd career NASCAR Sprint Cup start.
He completed 199 of 200 laps at the two-mile tri-oval
and was able to hold onto 17th-place in the driver
championship standings.
It was not the finish the JTG Daugherty team was hoping
for, especially following a win in the NASCAR Nationwide
Series Zippo 200 and a runner-up finish in the Sprint
Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International the previous
weekend. The team is learning and growing from their
experiences and the weekend at Michigan was
no different.
“We’ll put Michigan behind us and go on
to Bristol,” Ambrose said. “Handling was
a challenge for us. We got caught a lap down and we
were not able to recover from that.”
After starting 26th, Ambrose’s Little Debbie® Toyota
was snug in the middle. On Lap 6 of the event,
the race was red flagged due to light rain on the two-mile
tri-oval. Once the 43-car field was rolling again,
Ambrose dove to pit road for two tires and adjustments.
He restarted 23rd and was closing in on the top-15.
“We were loose off the throttle,” Ambrose
said. “As the race went on, we were loose in,
tight in the middle and loose off.”
On Lap 44, crew chief Frank Kerr called
for four tires and changes to the Little Debbie® machine.
A few laps later, Ambrose was actually looser with
no front grip. Kerr and the JTG Daugherty team
went back to work on the car under caution at Lap 54
by making a track bar and air pressure adjustments.
Mired back in traffic on the restart at Lap 58, Ambrose
was 30th as Matt Kenseth led the field to green.
“I had no forward drive,” Ambrose said. “It
was still loose in after the changes we made and had
no front grip.”
On Lap 93, the pit crew had another opportunity to
take a stab at it. They made more changes and put Ambrose
back on track in 36th-place.
“We were still battling with having no front
grip, and we lost a lap to the leader,” Ambrose
said. “The right front was really giving up.”
Under caution on Lap 118, Kerr brought Marcos back
down pit road and threw everything he had at it as
the Camry seemed to get worse
as the race progressed. The yellow flag
waved once again 17 laps later, Ambrose was back on
pit road for more service. Kerr brought him back
in again on Lap 150.
“With 50 laps to go, they changed four tires
and put rubbers in the left rear and made a wedge adjustment,” Ambrose
said. “They didn’t give up and just kept
working on it.”
Back to green flag racing on Lap 152, Ambrose was
in 35th place still one lap down as his teammate David
Reutimann led the field. A few laps later,
it was back to pit road for the No. 47.
“We just kept pitting trying to improve the
handling of the car,” Ambrose said.
With 39 laps remaining, Brian Vickers set the pace
as Ambrose was in 35th place. Vickers would go on to
win the race and Ambrose crossed the finish line in
35th place.
The team will now turn their focus to Bristol Motor
Speedway for the Sharpie 500. Marcos had a shot
at winning the Spring Bristol race until mechanical
problems took hold. He and his JTG Daugherty team were
able to rally back to finish 10th at that event (see
report). Contributed
by Chip Warren,
JTG Daugherty Racing
Carfax 400
Results:
1. Brian Vickers
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
4. Carl Edwards
5. Sam Hornish, Jr.
6. Casey Mears
7. Joey Logano
8. Clint Bowyer
9. David Reutimann
10. Denny Hamlin
35. Marcos Ambrose
Next Race — Sharpie
500:
Where: Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, TN
Time: Saturday, August 22, 2009
Network: ESPN, 6:30 p.m. / PRN Radio, 7 p.m.
(All Times Eastern)
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