Coke Zero 400 Report

MASSIVE 20-CAR PILEUP COLLECTS AMBROSE

DAYTONA, FL — If there is one thing for certain, Marcos Ambrose is tired of being involved in wrecks not of his own making during the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway he was collected in a 20-car pileup set off by contact between Jeff Burton and Kurt Busch on the backstretch on lap 147. Ambrose was a victim again, and this time it ended his hopes to top his best finish there of sixth-place. Instead he had to settle for a 32nd-place finish.

“I’m just tired of being wrecked,” Ambrose said. “I’ve took more hard hits this season than I have ever taken in my career. It’s just a shame because we had got the car handling better and we were just outside the top 10 making forward progress.”

Ambrose tried to avoid the ‘Big One’ while running around the top-15, but instead he suffered extensive damage to his No. 47 Kingsford Charcoal Toyota Camry. The massive pile-up forced him back to the garage for his JTG Daugherty team to load up and head home. Ambrose completed 147 laps of the 166-lap event that ended with a green-white-checker finish with Kevin Harvick taking the win. Kasey Kahne finished second, Jeff Gordon was third, Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished fourth and Jeff Burton rounded out the top-five finishing order.

“It is disheartening and Marcos took another hard hit,” crew chief Frank Kerr said. “But, there was absolutely nothing he could have done differently to avoid that mess.”

The Australian driver started the event in 28th-place and Harvick started on the pole. The 43-car field was set by point standings because inclement weather Friday afternoon cancelled qualifying. The start of the Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola was delayed due to rain as well. When the event finally got underway, Ambrose was running in the top 15 by Lap 5. As he logged a few more laps, he made his first report of the evening to Kerr.

“The car is really loose,” Ambrose said. “It’s just crazy loose.”

It was so loose that Ambrose was fighting to hold on to it every lap. The handling caused him to drift back to 27th by lap 14 while Greg Biffle led the way.

When NASCAR threw a competition yellow at lap 15, Ambrose was on pit road for four Goodyear tires, a half turn in the left rear (wedge) and a half spring rubber in the right rear.

The green flag was back in the air on lap 19, and Ambrose was scored in 27th place.

“It was still crazy loose,” Ambrose said. “We were really loose on the top of the track. I could only run around the bottom. I couldn’t get in at all.”

With the car entirely too loose, Ambrose was anxious to get back to pit road for his green flag stop at lap 55 for four tires, a round down on the track bar and an air pressure adjustment.

A debris caution three laps later allowed him to come back in for more service. This time the JTG Daugherty Racing pit crew changed four tires, put the track bar back and took a spring rubber out of the right rear.

Once Ambrose restarted 27th on lap 63, he keyed up the radio to tell Kerr that he was spinning out every corner.

“We just had no rear grip,” Ambrose said. “I couldn’t hold it wide open.”

A caution at lap 66 gave the JTG Daugherty Racing team another chance to work on the No. 47 Kingsford Charcoal Toyota backed by Little Debbie. The pit crew changed all four tires again, put a half spring rubber in the left rear and restarted 32nd at lap 69 as Jeff Gordon led the field.

“We had more rear grip, but we were floating the front,” Ambrose said.

Running 18th, Ambrose headed to pit road under green at lap 100.

“They changed four tires and took some wedge out,” Ambrose said.

He returned to the track in the 30th spot just as a caution came out for Kyle Busch taking a hard hit head-on into the outside retaining wall after skating across the nose of Juan Pablo Montoya’s No. 42 machine. Kerr opted not to pit Ambrose and took advantage of the wave around option since they were a lap down due to how the caution fell after just pitting.

Ambrose made his next report to Kerr “It is hitting the ground and washing up the track,” Ambrose said. “If we could get the front stable, I can run it.”

Shown in 27th place as the green flag was waved, Ambrose immediately communicated to Kerr that his car was jumping loose. The next caution at lap 116 due to a multi-car incident allowed the crew to change four tires, go up on the track bar and put the wedge back in.

The team continued to work on the car at any opportunity, and under caution at lap 136 they seemed to make more headway because the car was better. Ambrose took off in 15th place on lap 141.

Hanging around the top 15, Ambrose was ready to make his charge with a more stable No. 47 Kingsford Charcoal Toyota Camry. Unfortunately, misfortune struck at lap 147.

“This was such a big weekend for our sponsor Kingsford Charcoal, it’s the Fourth of July, everybody is grilling and we really wanted to put on a great show for them. “ Ambrose said. “It just hasn’t been our year. We’ll try again next week at Chicagoland.” Courtesy Jennifer Chapple, JTG Daugherty Racing

Coke Zero 400 Results:
1. Kevin Harvick
2. Kasey Kahne
3. Jeff Gordon
4. Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
5. Jeff Burton
6. Carl Edwards
7. Kurt Busch
8. Reed Sorenson
9. Mike Bliss
10. Scott Speed
32. Marcos Ambrose

Next Race — LifeLock.com 400:
Where: Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet, IL
Time: Saturday, July 10, 2010
Network & Time: TNT Television, 7:30 p.m. / MRN Radio, 6:30 p.m.
All Times Eastern

2010 Point Standings:
1. Kevin Harvick — 3585
2. Jeff Gordon — 3366
3. Kyle Busch — 3325
4. Tony Stewart — 3302
5. Carl Edwards — 3288
6. Jeff Burton — 3261
7. Jimmie Johnson — 3247
8. Kurt Busch — 3228
9. Matt Kenseth — 3225
10. Denny Hamlin — 3147
11. Greg Biffle — 3110
12. Clint Bowyer — 3066
25. M. Ambrose — 2410