Marcos Ambrose has achieved his best Sprint Cup finish on an oval with a strong performance in his Daytona 500 debut at Daytona International Speedway in Florida.
Ambrose was in 17th position on lap 152 when rain descended on the 2.5-mile superspeedway, resulting in the race being red flagged and results declared 48 laps early.
The finish gives the Australian a strong start to his first full season in the top level of NASCAR and netted his #47 JTG Daugherty Racing team US$295,146 (A$451,972) in prizemoney.
Ambrose was lucky to avoid a 10-car pile-up on lap 125, triggered by contact between Dale Earnhardt Jr and Brian Vickers, able to manoeuvre through the carnage to continue on and climb into the top 20.
Today’s race also saw Ambrose finish ahead of many established Sprint Cup stars such as Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle, and just one position behind veteran Mark Martin.
Ambrose started from 23rd position in the #47 Little Debbie Toyota Camry, becoming the first Australian to race in the world-famous Daytona 500.
Handling was an issue for Ambrose in the early stages, with the Little Debbie machine unsteady around the 31-degree Daytona banking.
Ambrose and crew chief Frankie Kerr worked at the car set-up and made changes at each pit stop, giving the Australian a better package heading into the second half of the race.
After a conservative approach in the first half of the race, Ambrose began to move forward through the pack to improve his position, working with Michael Waltrip Racing stablemate David Reutimann in the draft to move towards the front.
With the race declared due to rain, Ambrose’s charge was halted early but the two-time V8 Supercar Champion was still pleased with such a solid start to the season in his first Sprint Cup race at Daytona International Speedway.
The 17th place finish eclipses Ambrose’s previous best Sprint Cup finish on an oval at Phoenix International Raceway last November, where he finished 18th. His best Sprint Cup finish remains third place on the Watkins Glen road course last season.
The three Michael Waltrip Racing-prepared cars were the three highest finishing Toyotas in today’s Daytona 500, with two-time race winner Michael Waltrip finishing seventh and Reutimann 12th.
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