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Dickies 500
AMBROSE'S
BEST CUP FINISH ON AN OVAL BRINGS NO. 47 TEAM CLOSER
TO TOP 35
FORT WORTH, TX — Marcos
Ambrose has achieved his best NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
result on an oval with a strong 21st place finish in
the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. He narrowly
missed a top 20 finish in the 500-mile event, making
major inroads in terms of bringing the No. 47 Little
Debbie® Toyota Camry of Michael Waltrip
Racing back into the top 35 in Sprint Cup owner’s
points.
The Australian soundly beat the two entries immediately
ahead of the No. 47 car in owner’s points,
narrowing the gap to the two entries that lie just
within the top 35 at present. The No. 84 entry of Red
Bull Racing came home in 33rd in the Dickies 500
with former Formula One driver Scott Speed behind the
wheel. Meanwhile, the No. 7 of Robby Gordon Motorsports
driven by Robby Gordon finished the race
in 36th place. With two races remaining in the 2008
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the No. 47 now sits just
44 points behind the 35th placed No. 84 entry and 60
points behind the No. 7 entry. Both gaps narrowed drastically
as a result of the strong run from Ambrose.
The top 35 entries in terms of owner’s points
after the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway
in two weeks will be guaranteed a start in the
first five races of next season, including the all-important
season-opening Daytona 500.
Marcos' 21st place finish at the fast 1.5-mile
speedway came in his ninth Sprint Cup start
and eclipses his previous best finish on an oval in
the top flight of NASCAR of 22nd at Indianapolis Motor
Speedway. Third place finish on the road course of
Watkins Glen International remains the best Sprint
Cup finish to date for the 32-year-old.
Ambrose enjoyed a solid run today, starting from 24th
position and holding a spot in the top 30 for the entire
race. With just over 100 laps remaining Ambrose sat
in 25th, and at a restart with 89 laps to go he was
in 23rd and looking to continue his progress. At that
restart, the slowing car of Elliott Sadler caused havoc,
with Travis Kvapil eventually spinning on the frontstretch,
directly into the path of Ambrose, who collected Kvapil
with his front-left corner and also hit the outside
wall. Ambrose pitted for repairs, only
losing a handful of positions.
Ambrose continued on with his damaged car, still maintaining
strong pace, moving up several positions in the final
stages and narrowly missing a top 20 result, coming
in just behind Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Carl Edwards won the Dickies 500 ahead of
Jeff Gordon and Jamie McMurray.
Ambrose will race in both Nationwide and Sprint Cup
competition at Phoenix International Raceway next weekend,
as well as pulling ‘double duty’ in the
season finale in Homestead-Miami Speedway in two weeks.
Contributed by Brett Murray, BAM North America
What the Team Has to Say:
Marcos Ambrose, Driver of the No. 47 Little Debbie®
Toyota:
“This is a good result for us and it
means a lot in terms of the points,” said Ambrose.
“We had a really good Little Debbie car today
and I’m really happy that we got it to the end
there, because there were a few close calls.
“The car took a pretty good hit there at the
restart when one of the Yates cars spun. I thought
the worst for a second but we got it back to the pits
and it was only slightly damaged.
“We genuinely had good pace onboard today and
I’m really proud of this team for giving me such
a good car. It was a blast to run with so many top
cars and drivers and hold our ground all day at what
is one of the tougher, faster tracks we visit.
“We have two more races to get back into the
top 35 in owner’s points. This really gives us
a good shot at getting the job done. We took a big
step here in Texas and need to do the same in Phoenix
and Homestead.”
Dickies 500
Results:
1. Carl Edwards
2. Jeff Gordon
3. Jamie McMurray
4. Clint Bowyer
5. Greg Biffle
6. Kyle Busch
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Martin Turex, Jr.
9. Matt Kenseth
10. David Reutimann
21. Marcos Ambrose
Next Race — Checker
O'Reily Auto Parts 500 Presented by Penzoil:
Where: Phoenix International Raceway, Avondale,
AZ
When: Sunday, November 9, 2008
Network & Time: ABC, 3 p.m. / MRN Radio,
2:45 p.m.
(All Times Eastern)
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