Marcos Ambrose may be off to race a Toyota in the Sprint Cup premier class of NASCAR next season but he still wants to end 2008 – and his Ford connection – with a finish among the top 10 Nationwide Series pointscorers.
At the weekend, the Tasmanian scored his fifth top 10 finish of the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series with a solid run to ninth place in the O’Reilly Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
Ambrose qualified his #59 Kingsford Tailgate Ford Fusion in 25th, but was a man on a mission during the race in the 200-lap race of the 1.5-mile oval.
He charged into the top 15 and steadily made ground towards a top 10 position in the middle stages of the race, displaying some of the best speed the #59 Kingsford Ford Fusion has shown all season.
With 23 laps remaining and with Ambrose in 10th place, a clash between Denny Hamlin and Juan Pablo Montoya brought out a caution period as the former Formula One star looped on to the infield.
Ambrose’s JTG Daugherty Racing crew executed a slick pitstop during the caution, getting their man back out on track in ninth position for the final run to the flag.
The Australian maintained his hard-won position to bag a valuable haul of points and leaving him well placed to finish in the top 10 in Nationwide Series points for the second-consecutive season.
“It was a good day for us,” said Ambrose, whose prizemoney earnings this year in Nationwide have raced past US$1 million (A$1.5 million).
“We fought all day. We had a fast car in practice. I did a bad job in qualifying, so we had to come back through the field.
“We did well but we just ran out of laps. The car was at its best the last 30 or 40 laps of the race. The track was coming to us and the car was coming to us.”
Only two races remain in the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series, and Ambrose sits just eighth points behind ninth-placed Jason Leffler and 116 points ahead of 11th placed David Stremme.
Kyle Busch won the O’Reilly Challenge ahead of Carl Edwards and Mark Martin, while sixth placed Clint Bowyer continues to lead the Nationwide Series drivers’ standings.
RESULTS: O’Reilly Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway Race 33 in the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series
1. #18 Kyle Busch 200 laps
2. #60 Carl Edwards
3. #5 Mark Martin
4. #20 Joey Logano
5. #6 David Ragan
6. #2 Clint Bowyer
7. #88 Brad Keselowski
8. #99 David Reutimann
9. #59 Marcos Ambrose
10. #64 David Stremme
2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series Standings After Race 33 of 35
1. Clint Bowyer 4817
2. Carl Edwards 4726
3. Brad Keselowski 4524
4. David Ragan 4310
5. Mike Bliss 4250
6. David Reutimann 4194
7. Kyle Busch 4126
8. Mike Wallace 3881
9. Jason Leffler 3838
10. Marcos Ambrose 3830
