Ambrose Bears Heartbreak Finish At Infineon Raceway
Jun 22, 2008
Bam Media
Marcos Ambrose has starred during his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut only to suffer a heartbreaking finish to the Toyota/SaveMart 350 at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California today.
Ambrose ran as high as second and was one of the fastest cars on the track throughout the race around the 1.99-mile (3.20km) road course, but luck was not with the Australian and his #21 Little Debbie Honey Buns Ford Fusion.
Ambrose suffered a gearbox failure on lap 84 of the 110-lap race as a result of an impact from behind from the #19 car of Elliott Sadler, ending what was a sensational performance by the Australian.
The hit came just as Ambrose was engaging first gear under braking into Turn 7, breaking the gear and putting a hole in the gearbox casing. With oil spewing from underneath his Ford, Ambrose’s day was done and he immediately parked his car in pitlane.
Before the incident Ambrose had been one of the cars to beat. The driver from Launceston, Tasmania started from seventh position and made a cautious start, dropping to ninth.
But once the dust had settled on the start Ambrose got to work and climbed up the order, up into fourth by lap 29 when a caution period gave the leaders an opportunity to pit.
Strategy by some other cars, who pitted just before the caution flag flew, meant that the field was jumbled for the restart, with the leaders set back into the midpack, Ambrose in 17th position.
Undeterred, Ambrose continued to charge and picked off cars lap after lap and by the halfway point the 31-year-old was back in the top 10.
Once up to sixth position the time came for Ambrose to make his last pit stop for four tyres and fuel under green flag conditions with 42 laps remaining. A caution compressed the field immediately after this pit stop, working in the Australian’s favour as he closed right up onto the tail of the top three.
At the restart Ambrose made a run down the inside of fellow Ford driver Jamie McMurray, who did not make things easy for Ambrose, squeezing the #21 Little Debbie Honey Buns Ford Fusion right to the inside of the circuit entering the hairpin.
Ambrose slipped down the inside of McMurray but in doing so clipped the rear bumper of Juan Pablo Montoya, which sent the Colombian into a half spin and elevated Ambrose into second position.
At the restart with 33 laps remaining, Ambrose was right behind leader Kyle Busch, only to be jumped by McMurray, dropping him to third. David Gilliland and Tony Stewart also took advantage and made their way past, putting in Ambrose in fifth.
Just as Ambrose consolidated and prepared for another charge to the front, with ample laps remaining, the contact from Sadler ended his day.
Busch went on to win the Toyota/SaveMart 350 ahead of Gilliland and five-time Infineon Raceway winner Jeff Gordon.
Ambrose will again pull double duty next weekend, attempting to qualify for his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the #21 Little Debbie Ford Fusion, as well as racing in the NASCAR Nationwide Series in the #59 STP Ford Fusion for JTG Racing, also at the Loudon, New Hampshire venue.
