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Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Report
AMBROSE
TAKES ON NEW HAMPSHIRE AFTER CAREER-BEST FINISH
LOUDON, NH — Marcos
Ambrose, who was a little under the weather on raceday,
drove his No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota
to a 23rd-place finish in the rain-shortened Lenox
Industrial Tools 301, race number 17 of the NASCAR
Sprint Cup season.
The top-25 finish helped the JTG Daugherty Racing
team maintain 18th-place in the owner championship
standings. Joey Logano earned his first-career victory
while Jeff Gordon, Kurt Busch, David Reutimann and
Tony Stewart rounded out the top-five.
On Friday, qualifying was canceled due to inclement
weather. With NASCAR setting the field by the rulebook
based on the owner points standings, Ambrose started
18th as Tony Stewart led the field to the green flag
with Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and Carl
Edwards in tow.
The Australian driver maintained his top 20 run with
a loose handling Little Debbie® Toyota that he
brought down pit road on Lap 16 for four tires, and
an air pressure and wedge adjustment.
“We were loose in and loose off and it had no
forward drive,” Ambrose said.
Restarting in 27th-place on Lap 19, Ambrose’s
radioed the team a couple laps later to tell them they
made changes in the right direction and the car’s
handling had improved. He liked the feeling the changes
gave him on entry. Under caution on Lap 47, the 22nd-place
No. 47 entered pit road again for a quarter round
track bar adjustment, a half turn in on wedge and no
tires.
“It felt like the left front was too high and
it didn’t have a lot of drive off the left rear,” Ambrose
said.
As green flag racing continued, Ambrose was 22nd and
remained loose both in and off the corners. The caution
flag waved again at Lap 59 and crew chief Frank Kerr
took advantage of the opportunity to call Ambrose to
pit road for four tires, more adjustments and instructed
the pit crew remove a spring rubber out of the left
rear.
On Lap 63, Ambrose took the green in 29th-place and
quickly returned to the top 25. As the race progressed,
leader Jimmie Johnson was coming on strong, and as
he made his way around the track he put several cars
one lap down. As Johnson had Ambrose in sight on Lap
115, the Australian driver was running lap times as
fast as the Lowe’s
machine while scored in 19th-place. With green flag
pits stops taking place soon after, Ambrose gave up
11th-place and entered pit road on Lap 124 for four
fresh tires. He ended up being scored one lap down
to leader Johnson when he returned to the track.
“We had lost forward drive,” Ambrose said.
After pitting, Kerr told Ambrose he turned his quickest
lap on 128 up until that point while running 28th.
When the caution flag was displayed again at Lap 146,
Kerr decided to take their chances and stay out to
hopefully catch a caution and advance onto the lead
lap. Nearly 20 laps later, Kerr’s plan worked
and Ambrose was the Lucky Dog recipient.
“It worked in our favor,” Kerr said.
On the restart at Lap 174, Ambrose’s spotter
Al DiRusso yelled, ‘Stop, stop, stop’ as
several cars fell victim to an incident that happed
when Dale Earnhardt, Jr. spun his tires on the restart.
It left Martin Truex with nowhere to go as the No.
18 car of Kyle Busch got into the back of his car and
set off a chain reaction.
“Marcos had to come to his pit box because we
thought he may have locked up the tires and he had
grass in the grill from trying to avoid the incident,” Kerr
said. “We had him come in just in case and get
the screen cleaned.”
With multiple cars involved, NASCAR red flagged the
event on Lap 175 where Ambrose was in the 23rd position.
NASCAR hurriedly cleaned the track as rain loomed outside
New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
After taking four tires on Lap 177, Marcos was 23rd
when the field returned to racing with Jeff Gordon
leading the way. The battle for the top spot heated
up between Gordon, Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson with
the double file restart.
“It was just crazy loose,” Ambrose said. “I
thought we might be in big trouble.”
Another caution occurred at Lap 187 for incident involving
rookie driver Joey Logano as it started to mist.
“We knew the rain was coming,” Kerr said.
With the possibility of heavy rain looming overhead
on Lap 189, the pressure to keep the lead was greater
than ever before as Jeff Gordon led the field to green.
Tony Stewart was in second and Kyle Busch in third.
Kyle slid up and made contact with the No. 48 car of
Jimmie Johnson while Stewart was on the bottom. While
this was going on in the front of the pack, the yellow
flag waved for an accident involving the No. 82 car
of Scott Speed.
Ambrose was 19th on the restart at Lap 195 and was
extremely loose but kept in the top 20. The frontrunners
started to pit around Lap 235 as they followed race
leader Tony Stewart onto pit road. With teams
ahead of Ambrose pitting, he was scored as high as
third-place before making his green flag stop on Lap
239 for four tires. He returned to the track 27th.
While 24th on Lap 262, Ambrose’s spotter told
Kerr that the rain was close. Ten laps later it started
to mist again as Ambrose came down pit road at Lap
272 for four tires and a shock adjustment. With the
next lap, NASCAR brought the entire field of cars down
pit road and parked them with Joey Logano at the head
of the pack. Their strategy was to stay out and not
pit so Logano would gain the lead. With NASCAR calling
the race because of rain, 19-year-old Logano went on
to win his first career victory and be the youngest
driver in NASCAR history to do so.
Ambrose finished 23rd after completing 273 laps of
the scheduled 301 lap event. Contributed
by Chip Warren, JTG Daugherty Racing
Lenox Tools 301
Results:
1. Joey Logano
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Kurt Busch
4. David Reutimann
5. Tony Stewart
6. Brad Keselowski
7. Kyle Busch
8. Sam Hornish, Jr.
9. Jimmie Johnson
10. Kasey Kahne
23. Marcos Ambrose
Next Race — Coke
Zero 400 Powered By Coca-Cola:
Where: Daytona International Speedway,
Daytona, FL
Date: Saturday, July 4, 2009
Network & Time: TNT; 7:30 p.m. / MRN Radio;
7:15 p.m.
(All Times Eastern)
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