Team Australia driver Marcos Ambrose returns to the venue of one of his finest performances when he tackles the Pepsi 300 at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee this weekend.
Ambrose was a fine third in his last visit to Nashville while competing in last year s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in the #20 Aussie Vineyards Ford F-150 last August.
Now Ambrose gets the opportunity to reacquaint himself with the 1.333-mile concrete-surfaced speedway in the Aussie Vineyards-backed #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion as he strives for another strong finish.
The Australian sits seventh in the NASCAR Busch Series points standings after six races and is the highest-placed non-Nextel Cup driver.
Ambrose is also second in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings, locked in a battle with former Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya and the likes of NASCAR young gun David Ragan for the prestigious award.
Marcos Ambrose – Aussie Vineyards-backed #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion
“I m really excited about Nashville, ” said Ambrose.
“For some reason, on those concrete tracks, I get a good feel on them. I ran well at Dover, and I just feel like I can feel the car advancing on the concrete tracks. Nashville being slightly smaller than a one-and-a-half-mile speedway – like Lowe s or Texas – I think is good for me, too, because the speed is slightly slower and you can be more aggressive behind the wheel.
“I m really looking forward to Nashville, and I hope to duplicate what I did there last year in the truck series this weekend.
“There isn t a lot of carryover between the Truck and the Busch car. I think the trucks drive very differently from the Busch car. One of the main factors, too, is the competition is pretty steep in the Busch Series. You ve got a lot of great drivers from Cup competing, so it s pretty tricky.
“I hope to keep growing as a driver in NASCAR and my focus this season has to be on just finishing the race, if I can, on the lead lap. If we can do that, we ll have a good run – a top-15 finish – which has to be our goal, and a top-10 would be great. ”
“If we just do our own job and don t worry about the other people around us, and just race the track ourselves and get the best out of the car that we can, we should be fine. That s really what I m focused on.
“We ve just got to focus on our own job, and I feel that if we do our job properly we can run a strong top 10.
“The family and I are having a great time. We re treating it just like a holiday as much as anything. We re getting to see places of America that you never dream of getting to. We re having a great experience and that s what it s about.
“It s just one of these life experiences that you get along the way. We re lucky enough to be able to travel with a young family, and I ve a great wife in Sonja to support me doing what I love to do.
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