Marcos Ambrose has scored an important top 15 finish in the Camping World RV Rental 300 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California today.
Ambrose earned a solid 15th place in the 150-lap race, maintaining his position in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings after 27 of 35 races.
The Australian finished ahead of the two drivers immediately ahead in the Driver’s standings, Mike Wallace and Jason Leffler, edging closer to the two as the Nationwide Series reaches the final stages of the 2008 season.
Ambrose now sits just 47 points behind Wallace and 54 points behind Leffler with eighth Nationwide Series races remaining this year.
Ambrose qualified the #59 Kingsford Ford Fusion of JTG Daugherty Racing in 12th position earlier today, earning his best qualifying result at Auto Club Speedway.
In the first part of the race Ambrose maintained a position in the top 20. The first part of the race was staged with the afternoon sun blazing down on the circuit, but the second half of the race was staged at night. Ambrose, therefore, entered the race with a set-up more suited to the cooler conditions.
Ambrose dropped as far down as 24th, but passed cars to move his way back up the order in the second half of the race.
The 31-year-old gradually moved up the order, eventually reaching 15th position as the first car not on the lead lap. Unfortunately, a caution never came to allow Ambrose back on the lead lap by virtue of a ‘Lucky Dog’, and Ambrose finished the race in 15th.
Kyle Busch won today’s Camping World RV Rental 300 ahead of Carl Edwards and Brian Vickers.
In NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice earlier today, Ambrose was 40th fastest in second practice and 42nd fastest in final practice in the #21 Wood Brothers Ford Fusion.
Ambrose will start from 40th tomorrow in the Pepsi 500, the fifth Sprint Cup start for the driver from Launceston, Tasmania.
QUOTES - MARCOS AMBROSE
“We just pushed forward all night,” said Ambrose.
“At the start we weren’t great but we got better. We were passing cars out there and had good speed, but we were tight all night.
“When you are fighting the car like that there’s not much you can do.
“It’s a solid finish and we brought home a straight Ford in the end. This is a strong finish for the points and when you don’t have a top five car that’s the priority, to bring it home in a solid position and collect points.
“We want to keep moving forward in the points in these last races of the season. Our whole Kingsford team is working hard for that.
“We lost laps in the pits tonight. We were just out of position there at the wrong times.
“We had a pretty good car to run back in the top 10, so we probably finished two or three spots behind where we should have. That being said, we had a decent night for the points. It wasn’t a standout night for us, but not every night is going to be great.
“We just got lapped in the pits and then we couldn’t get ourselves back in position because there was another long green flag run to get the lucky dog. Then we went another lap down when we did our pit stop and that hurts.
“The cautions just came at the wrong time for us. You can’t follow the race. Some days it goes your way and some days it doesn’t.”
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