|
Aaron's 499 Report
MULTI-CAR
ACCIDENT RELEGATES AMBROSE TO A 37TH-PLACE
FINISH AT DEGA
TALLADEGA, AL — During
the first green-white-checkered finish attempt of the
Aaron’s 499 on lap 188, Marcos Ambrose’s
No. 47 Bush’s Baked Beans Toyota backed by Little
Debbie® snacks was collected in a ‘Big One’ sending
him into the retaining wall ending his chances for
a solid finish Sunday afternoon.
Ambrose was four wide on the bottom in Turn 4 when
the No. 20 car of Joey Logano got into the back of
Ryan Newman’s machine up top and a multi-car
crash ensued also collecting Sam Hornish Jr., Kasey
Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Elliott Sadler and Brian Vickers.
The No. 71 car of Bobby Labonte had nowhere to go and
hooked to Ambrose’s car, which shot him up
the track in front of the melee. Ambrose was credited
with a 37th-place finish after completing 188 laps
of the extended 200-lap event.
“We had a long day, and it’s a shame our
day ended the way it did,” Ambrose said. “We
were running around the top 20 and just got collected
in a big wreck. The season has been really tough for
us so far. I don’t know what we have to do to
turn our luck around.”
With the ninth race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
season considered an impound race, there were two practice
sessions on Friday. Severe weather the next day forced
NASCAR to cancel all on track activities. This also
forced NASCAR to set the order for the Aaron's 499
field by point standings.
As the race was underway at 1 p.m. ET,
Ambrose went to work in his No. 47 car from the 32nd
starting position. On lap 13, the Australian driver
broke into the top 10. The very next lap Ambrose charged
into the top five and was running third while Logano
led the 43-car field to the line.
Ambrose dropped back to 10th on lap 15 and prepared
to pit during the competition yellow at lap 20. Jeff
Burton led the field to pit road. As they counted Ambrose
down to enter his pit box, crew chief Frank Kerr called
for four tires and no changes.
“The car was a little snug, but it was good,” Ambrose
said. “We didn’t make any changes.”
Returning to green flag conditions on lap 24, Ambrose
was positioned in 18th place and reentered the top
10 on lap 30 with Dale Earnhardt Jr. leading the massive
pack of cars. Everyone was trying to get around Earnhardt
Jr. when Michael Waltrip went to the point at lap 31.
Ambrose was comfortable staying close to the top 10.
“It was getting pretty messy up there and we
were playing it safe by dropping back a little,” Ambrose
said. “We were trying to make it to the end and
not get caught up in an accident.”
When it began to get dicey up front, Ambrose dropped
back a little further to 23rd and was running just
ahead of his teammate David Reutimann. Moving into
18th place at lap 48, Ambrose reported his Toyota was
hitting the ground and needed a slight change on the
next pit stop. Running 10th at lap 64, Ambrose entered
pit road for a green flag stop. The JTG Daugherty Racing
crew changed right side tires only and made a wedge
adjustment.
As soon as Ambrose was back on track, he communicated
to Kerr and his JTG Daugherty Racing team that he had
a bad vibration. The vibration did not go away and
Kerr made a tough decision to bring Ambrose back to
pit road under green to change four tires, which cost
him one lap. He left pit road in 34th place one lap
down to leader Jimmie Johnson with Kyle Busch, Elliott
Sadler and Reutimann in tow.
When a caution occurred at Lap 76 for a spin by Denny
Hamlin, Ambrose pitted for his team to work
on damage sustained to his left front driver’s
side from the No. 12 car of Brad Keselowski while on
pit road during the previous stop.
Ambrose restarted 40th on Lap 79 and was still concerned
about a bad vibration. A caution at lap 83 involving
multiple cars allowed the pit crew to change four tires
and continue work on the driver’s side damage.
Ambrose exited pit road 34th with Jimmie Johnson in
the lead. One lap down, Ambrose was a candidate for
the free pass back onto the lead lap. Regan Smith lost
his motor at lap 100 brining out the fourth caution
of the race. Ambrose advanced onto the lead lap and
headed to pit road for four tires and additional repairs.
On lap 105, Ambrose restarted 32nd and was running
ninth before his next pit stop under green. Kerr called
for two tires on lap 147. As the race went on, Ambrose
and a few others eventually lost the draft. Ambrose
was working primarily with Travis Kvapil to make up
some ground and at the same time hoping for a caution
to catch back up to the rest of the field. On lap 175,
his wish was granted when the No. 71 car spun around
and resulted in another caution. Ambrose pitted for
four tires and fuel the next time by.
Back to green flag racing, and in the midst of the
tight pack, Ambrose was 25th with Jamie McMurray in
the lead. With seven laps remaining, an accident involving
drivers Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton and Scott Speed
brought out the sixth caution of the scheduled 188-lap
event.
“We got into the back of a car when they checked
up, but thankfully there wasn’t really any damage
to our nose,” Ambrose said. “We were lucky.”
Kerr told Ambrose to stay out because there did not
appear to be any significant damage to the front of
his car. The incident produced a green-white-checker
scenario when the field was turned loose on lap 188
with McMurray in the lead and Tony Stewart in second.
All of the sudden, Ambrose found himself collected
in a big wreck coming out of Turn 4. Ambrose was taken
to the infield care center and immediately released
while his car was delivered to the NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series garage.
“With these green-white-checkered finishes, you
know it’s going to happen and you just hope that
you are not collected in it,” Ambrose said. “Our
goal was just to finish the race. Today, we were caught
up in a mess that we couldn’t get out of. I got
hooked in the rear quarter panel and I had nowhere to
go.”
In the third and final attempt at a green-white-checkered
finish, Kevin Harvick won the race breaking
a 115-race winless streak. Harvick bested Jamie McMurray
to the line by .011 seconds. Juan Pablo Montoya finished
third, Denny Hamlin was fourth and Mark Martin rounded
out the top five. Sunday’s Aaron’s 499
set all-time and track records for lead changes (88)
and lap leaders (29). Courtesy
Jennifer Chapple, JTG Daugherty Racing
Aaron's 499
Results:
1. Kevin Harvick
2. Jamie McMurray
3. Juan Pablo Montoya
4. Denny Hamlin
5. Mark Martin
6. David Ragan
7. Clint Bowyer
8. Kurt Busch
9. Kyle Busch
10. Mike Bliss
37. Marcos Ambrose
Next Race — Heath
Calhoun 400:
Where:Richmond International Raceway, Richmond,
VA
Time: Saturday, May 1, 2010
Network & Time: FOX Television, 7:30 p.m.
/ MRN Radio, 6:30 p.m.
All Times Eastern
|
