Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 Report

LATE RACE ACCIDENT DASHES AMBROSE'S HOPES FOR POSSIBLE VICTORY

LONG POND, PA — Marcos Ambrose was well on his way to collecting his sixth top-10 of the season and possibly his first victory of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, but he had to settle for a 34th-place finish in his No. 47 Little Debbie® backed Toyota Camry during the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway.

His efforts were derailed with 26 laps remaining in the 200-lap event on Monday. The Australian driver was running ninth on Lap 174 when he fell victim to an incident ignited by the No. 11 Toyota of Denny Hamlin in tenth-place. Hamlin was tucked under Reutimann’s No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine bumper while Ambrose ran a lower line alongside both of them. Suddenly, Hamlin made enough contact to Reutimann’s back bumper to send the car sailing in front of Ambrose. Both Ambrose and Reutimann had substantial damage to their Toyota Camrys, which ultimately took them out of contention for a victory. Denny Hamlin went on to win the 21st race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

“If he (Denny) would have checked up just a little, I could have got the car straight and we would have been alright,” Reutimann said. “But, he just kept pushing. I feel bad for Marcos. We both had good cars and would have easily left there with a top-10 finish. Who knows, maybe one of us would have won. It’s just a shame.”

“I didn’t see what happened,” Ambrose said. “I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. My spotter said that the 11 car just drove into the back of David’s car on the exit. We just didn’t have anywhere to go.”

Ambrose completed 192 laps of the 200-lap race that NASCAR rescheduled for Monday after torrential rains delayed the race from the day before. Qualifying on Friday was canceled due to inclement weather leaving NASCAR no choice but to set the 43-car field by owner points. Therefore, Ambrose started 18th.

When the race finally got underway on Monday under a sunny sky, NASCAR implemented a competition caution at Lap 20. Crew chief Frank Kerr and the JTG Daugherty Racing team took advantage of the opportunity to change four tires and pull a half rubber out of the right rear, put one in the left rear and take a packer out of the left front.

“We had no forward drive,” Ambrose said. “At first, the Little Debbie® backed Toyota started off awesome and then it started losing drive. It just needed more drive off the left rear.”

The 32-year-old was 33rd on the restart at Lap 25. Then the yellow flag was displayed again at Lap 52 for debris and Ambrose gave up 14th-place to head to pit road for service. Crew chief Frank Kerr called for four tires and a small air pressure adjustment.

“The left rear just had no drive,” Ambrose said.

Rolling off 20th on Lap 57, it was back to green flag racing.

“We were still pretty free and tight in the center,” Ambrose said.

Ambrose was back on pit road under caution at Lap 63 for four fresh Goodyear tires; a half round up on the track bar and a half turn in on wedge in the left rear. The JTG Daugherty Racing team gave up valuable track position to make the car turn better. Ambrose went back to the race in 30th-place.

“It still would not turn in the middle,” Ambrose said. “It was just too tight in the middle center off.”

As green flag pit stops began around lap 87, Ambrose stayed out to lead a lap at Lap 93 before heading to pit road for four tires and a half-round wedge adjustment. He was in 27th place when another caution quickly occurred. He stayed out this time as other cars ahead of him pitted. He was scored in fifth-place when the green flag waved again on Lap 101. At that time, his teammate David Reutimann was in second-place, and Ambrose moved into fourth by Lap 102. Because his car was loose on entry and tight off, he slid outside the top-five by Lap 108.

“It needed forward drive,” Ambrose said. “The right front was giving up. It just didn’t turn in the middle like it needed too.”

At Lap 131, Ambrose was back on pit road under green flag conditions for four tires and an air pressure adjustment. Ten laps later, the caution flag waved and Ambrose was back on pit road. Kerr called for four tires and a quarter round up on the track bar and air out of the right rear to help with the looseness in and off. Under caution on Lap 150 and 158, the No. 47 pit crew continued to service the car.

Once green flag racing resumed on Lap 160, Ambrose made some great moves as cars ahead of him were stacking up. He charged ahead from 28th to 16th in four laps.

“That was the best the car had been,” Ambrose said. “We pitted again under caution and took only two tires and they raised the track bar a half round.”

In 11th place on the restart at lap 170, Ambrose reentered the top-10 one lap later and was moving forward. Four laps later, his strong effort came to a screeching halt as he had to drive back to the garage for his JTG Daugherty team to access the damage to the No. 47 Toyota Camry due to the incident started by Hamlin.

The crew worked feverishly to cut away the damage to the car and access a brake problem. While Ambrose was in his garage stall, a big crash in Turn 1 on Lap 180 gave the team a little extra time to work on the car. The accident involving Bobby Labonte, Reed Sorenson, Joey Logano and Jeff Burton unfortunately also collected Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann. Ambrose was able to pull out of the garage on Lap 183 to return to the track and cross the finish line to finish 34th.

“It’s disappointing to have our day end like that because the car was much better and we were moving forward,” Ambrose said. “We’ll just move on and get ready for Watkins Glen (International).” Contributed by Chip Warren, JTG Daugherty Racing

Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 Results:
1. Denny Hamlin
2. Juan Pablo Montoya
3. Clint Bowyer
4. Sam Hornish, Jr.
5. Kasey Kahne
6. Brian Vickers
7. Mark Martin
8. Jeff Gordon
9. Kurt Busch
10. Tony Stewart
34. Marcos Ambrose

2009 Point Standings:
1. Jimmie Johnson — 6492
2. Mark Martin — 6384
3. Jeff Gordon — 6323
4. Kurt Busch — 6281
5. Tony Stewart — 6207
6. Juan Montoya — 6203
7. Greg Biffle — 6171
8. Denny Hamlin — 6140
9. Ryan Newman — 6081
10. Kasey Kahne — 6016
11. Carl Edwards — 5972
12. Brian Vickers — 5826
18. M. Ambrose — 3767