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Marcos Ambrose has completed his first ever official NASCAR Sprint Cup Series test at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania today.
The two-day test comes ahead of Ambrose competing in the Heluva Good 200 at Dover International Raceway in Race 14 of the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series this weekend in the #59 Kingsford Hickory Ford Fusion.
Ambrose drove JTG Racing’s brand new #47 Ford Fusion NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car at the 2.5-mile speedway over the two-day test, following a shakedown of the car at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee last week.
This is the first serious test for Ambrose of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car on an oval, with his only previous experience in Cup cars coming on road courses, both in testing and a single practice session at Watkins Glen International last year.
Ambrose is scheduled to run four races for JTG Racing with Little Debbie as the #47 car’s primary sponsor, starting with the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As a new Sprint Cup team and entry with no 2008 Owner’s Points, Ambrose will have to qualify on speed to make the race.
Ambrose and his JTG Racing crew were pleased with the early signs from their Cup car. With the new car still in the initial stages of its development, Ambrose and his crew are working steadily at improving their package over the coming months.
Ambrose was the 58th fastest car yesterday in the sole session held as rain stopped the second session. Today Ambrose showed improvement, running 60th fastest in the first session before jumping up the charts to be the 35th fastest car in the afternoon session and the fourth fastest Ford.
The Australian driver will head into this weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Dover off the back of some solid results in the #59 Kingsford Hickory Ford Fusion recently. Ambrose was 14th at Lowe’s Motor Speedway last weekend and 10th the previous race at Darlington Raceway.
Dover has been a strong venue for the 31-year-old in the past, with Ambrose finishing sixth after qualifying third in the corresponding race last season.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Official Test at Pocono Raceway Results:
1. #2B Kurt Busch 53.111
2. #8 Mark Martin 53.115
3. #10 Patrick Carpentier 53.242
4. #84 AJ Allmendinger 53.261
5. #96 JJ Yeley 53.467
6. #55 Michael Waltrip 53.491
7. #66 Scott Riggs 53.587
8. #48 Jimmie Johnson 53.591
9. #78 Joe Nemechek 53.602
10. #18 Kyle Busch 53.715
35. #47 Marcos Ambrose 54.254
