Australian motor racing star Marcos Ambrose will become the first Australian driver to race in the world-famous Daytona 500 in the opening race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season in Daytona Beach, Florida this weekend.
Ambrose will begin his first full-season in Sprint Cup, the top level of NASCAR, this weekend in what will be the biggest race of his career.
It was confirmed over the weekend that Ambrose’s #47 entry of JTG Daugherty Racing would receive one of 35 guaranteed starting spots in the Daytona 500.
On Monday morning Australian time Ambrose posted the 30th fastest time in qualifying at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, which gives the 32-year-old the 14th starting spot in the first of two Gatorade Duel ‘heat races’ later this week.
Yesterday Ambrose was 21st and 26th fastest in the two practice sessions held at the 2.5-mile superspeedway, the first time Ambrose has driven around a properly sanctioned circuit since November due to the testing ban implemented by NASCAR over the off-season.
Ambrose is also the first Australian to race in any level of NASCAR full-time, and one of two foreign drivers to take a NASCAR victory (former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya of Columbia has two NASCAR wins, both in 2007).
REGARDLESS OF RESULT – BIGGEST EVER PAY-DAY …
Regardless of where Marcos Ambrose finishes the Daytona 500 this Sunday, he will earn the biggest-ever haul of prizemoney in NASCAR.
The Daytona 500 is not only the most prestigious stock car race in the world, it is also the most lucrative.
Last year veteran Kenny Wallace earned US$256,735 (A$382,509) for being classified in the 43rd and last position after completing 143 of the 200 laps, his race ending with engine failure.
2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman earned US$1,506,045
(A$2,253,846) for taking the victory.
The previous best prizemoney haul for Ambrose in a single race came in last year’s Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, where Ambrose and the #47 JTG Daugherty Racing entry picked up US$148,825 (A$221,734) for finishing in 18th place.
TWO AUSSIES ON RACE DAY AT DAYTONA …
Ambrose will not be the only Aussie in the limelight come race day at the Daytona 500.
Grammy Award winner and country music superstar, Australian Keith Urban, will perform at the Daytona 500 Pre-Race Show.
Urban is set to perform three of his eight #1 songs prior to the 51st annual Daytona 500.
Urban, who is the only artist to ever win both the CMA for Best New Artist and top honours as the Entertainer of the Year, has sold more than 10 million albums.
His eight #1 songs have collectively spent nearly 30 weeks on top of the Charts. Urban joins a long list of star-studded names that have performed in the Daytona 500 Pre-Race Show such as Brooks & Dunn, Bon Jovi, Kelly Clarkson, LeAnn Rimes and Mariah Carey.
Urban, originally from Caboolture in Queensland, is married to Australian actress Nicole Kidman, who is familiar to NASCAR fans from her starring role in the 1990 film ‘Days of Thunder’.
THE START OF A NEW CHAPTER FOR AMBROSE …
Marcos Ambrose begins his first full season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the top level of NASCAR, in the biggest race of them all, the Daytona 500, on February 15 in Daytona Beach, Florida
For Ambrose, it’s the realisation of a dream that officially began in March 2005, when the two-time V8 Supercar champion announced his intention to move to the United States with his young family to pursue a career in NASCAR.
It has been a gradual climb for Ambrose, who made 22 starts in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2006 before two full seasons in the Nationwide Series, highlighted by his first NASCAR win last season at Watkins Glen.
After all the hard work, learning and sacrifices, Ambrose now embarks on his first full season in Sprint Cup, after 11 starts at Cup level last season, with a best finish of third place at Watkins Glen.
AUSTRALIAN SPORTING HISTORY IN THE MAKING …
Ambrose’s start in the Daytona 500 will come just two weeks after Arizona Cardinals punter Ben Graham also etched his name into Australian sporting history.
Graham, a former AFL player with the Geelong Cats, made his own switch to US sport in 2004 and became the first Australian to compete in the biggest game in the NFL season, Superbowl XLIII, on 1 February 2009.
Like the Daytona 500, the Superbowl was staged in the state of Florida, in Tampa Bay.
Ambrose actually spoke with Graham about his move Stateside back at a function for the Ford Motor Company in 2004, which was a common sponsor of Graham and Ambrose.
“Ben Graham has come from AFL, which is our version of football in Australia,” said Ambrose.
“He’s had a lot of success. I sat down with him around 2004 at a function, and he was saying how he was coming over here to have a crack at it. So good luck to him because I know just how big a move that is.
“Unfortunalety for Ben, Arizona couldn’t quite get across the line in the Superbowl, but it was a great game. Hopefully I can get the job done and win the 500 to make up for it …
Click Here To Read More:
Q & A With NASCAR Driver Marcos Ambrose
“But I wouldn’t put any bets on that. I think just the experience for me this first year is what it’s all about. I just want to settle in, do the right thing and show everybody that I can do it.”
Ambrose will become the first Australian to race in the world-famous Daytona 500 when he takes the green flag aboard the #47 Little Debbie machine of JTG Daugherty Racing.
NEW ERA FOR JTG DAUGHERTY RACING AND MICHAEL WALTRIP RACING …
The 51st running of the Daytona 500 marks the first official race in the technical alliance between JTG Daughtery Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing.
The deal, announced last September, sees Ambrose’s #47 entry built and maintained out of the 140,000 square foot MWR facility in Cornelius, North Carolina.
Ambrose will keep Frankie Kerr as his Sprint Cup crew chief. Kerr, a former Sprintcar star himself, was Ambrose’s crew chief with JTG Daugherty Racing and MWR for six Cup events last season. Kerr has a past relationship as a crew chief with MWR in 2007 with driver David Reutimann before joining JTGD in 2008.
The technical alliance also sees JTG Daugherty Racing switch from Ford machinery to Toyota. MWR was formed in 2007 to coincide with Toyota’s entry into the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series.
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