Q: We’re joined by Marcos Ambrose. Take us through your off-season, talk about getting ready for ‘09 and starting in the Daytona 500.
MARCOS AMBROSE: Well, very excited about the Daytona 500. My off-season has probably been unique compared to most. On the Monday after Homestead I flew out to Australia. We had some family issues there. My dad wasn’t too well and my grandfather was ill. So I went back, spent some great quality time with those guys and had a great Christmas with the family, and I came back on Tuesday.
It’s been a great summer for me over the last few weeks, because it is summer in Australia, and I’ve tried to get my body in shape and my mind in shape and have a good rest and think about what I really need to do to attack 2009 well and with hopefully some good form.
My worry is that I haven’t done any running in a car, and that is a concern for me, so I need to get some laps to get my head up to speed, to get used to the speed again, really, and just get your body used to it and your mind used to it. But hopefully in the build-up to the 500 I’ll have enough laps and be ready.
Q. I was going to ask you, with the V8 Super School that you co-own in Australia, were you been able to get any laps you needed there, but I guess not?
MARCOS AMBROSE: Unfortunately not. Australia is a big place. You might not realise, but it’s as big as America, and Tasmania where I’m from is down at the bottom like living in the Florida Keys, and with your racing school being as far away as California, so I didn’t get a chance to go there.
I’ve had this before once or twice in seasons where I haven’t been able to do much pre-season testing, and I know it’s been a challenge but I have been able to overcome it. I just hope that this time at these speeds that I do get comfortable, because it’s all about comfort out there.
If you feel confident and comfortable in your surroundings, I’ll go well. And when you don’t, that’s when you have to be that little bit careful and that’s when performance really becomes a factor. You know, I just want to make sure that I’m going to be comfortable and confident lining up for that 500 miler.
Q. The other day Michael (Waltrip) said that your program was completely funded. He didn’t go into any details, so could you give us a little detail about who and how many races, and will you be doing anything in the Nationwide Series in addition to the full Sprint Cup?
MARCOS AMBROSE: It’s a great question. I’m really pleased to answer it because it is a long question, a difficult question to answer.
The 47 entry is owned by JTG Daugherty Racing. We were given points from Michael Waltrip Racing that was formerly the 00, but even that’s been switched around a little bit recently. Now, the team will be run by Michael Waltrip Racing, so basically the cars, the employees, the equipment is all MWR stuff, and our sponsorship has been fully funded from JTG Daugherty Racing.
So effectively JTG Daugherty has climbed into the Sprint Cup Series and is using the equipment and the personnel and experience of MWR to get things rolling.
It’s a great position for me. I’ve got some fantastic equipment to drive in, and I have some great people to reference off and to look at and learn from. So for me it’s a fantastic way to get into the Sprint Cup Series. It is a pinnacle team, and I’ve been able to plug myself in and our sponsor straight in. Now we have Little Debbie coming on board for at least 16 races. We have Bush’s Baked Beans on for a couple and Kingsford and Clorox are on for the remainder. We have some associates with Tums and Glad and a few others, so we have a fully funded race team.
It’s very rare in 2009. We’re very proud of it, and it goes down to Tad and Jodi Geshickter and the JTG Daugherty team for having the vision of how they wanted to go Cup racing and how they wanted to do it. They predicted 2009 was going to be a good year for them to enter, considering car counts and their position and their sponsorships that they have had some time that have grown with them and up to this point for getting them to the Cup level.
I’m very excited to give Kingsford their first chance at the Cup level and take on, too, Bush’s Beans who haven’t raced at the Cup Series before. They’ve all been Nationwide sponsors for JTG Daugherty. We’re all friends, and Tad and his team have been able to give them programs that give them value, and that’s why they want to be with us, and hopefully the performance on track will follow.
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