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Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the
Glen Report
AMBROSE
SCORES SECOND PLACE FINISH AT
THE
GLEN
WATKINS GLEN, NY — Following
his second career NASCAR Nationwide Series
victory on Saturday, Marcos Ambrose scored his career-best
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series finish by coming in second place
at Watkins Glen International in his No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota.
“The Cup car is just so aggressive to drive
and I had to work really hard to keep up with ‘Smoke’ (Tony
Stewart),” Ambrose said. “I was closing
in, but he didn’t make a mistake. I feel privileged
to be racing against him and to drive for my team.
I’m just so proud of all my guys for giving me
great stuff all year. JTG Daugherty (Racing) is here
to stay. It’s a really exciting time for us.”
Tony Stewart was the winner while Carl Edwards finished
third behind Ambrose, Kyle Busch was fourth and Greg
Biffle rounded out the top-five. This marks Ambrose’s
third top-five finish of the year, which moved him
and his team up to 17th in the points standings.
“We didn't quite have enough to get Tony (Stewart)
there at the end,” Ambrose said. “I threw
everything I could at him. We got off on strategy at
one point and got stuck in the back of the pack and
had to make a gamble. We came in and splashed off fuel
-- didn't put tires on it. I think that was the difference
between first and second here this afternoon, was just
the extra laps I did on my tires, probably eight or
10 more laps than Tony.
I could close in on him, I could see him starting
to make a few little mistakes, locking tires, but not
enough for me to catch him. I’m just really proud
of my team. We didn't quite close the deal, but it's
just been a great weekend for us. I’m really
excited for our future.”
Starting the race in fourth place to polesitter Jimmie
Johnson, Ambrose’s Little Debbie® Toyota
was loose and had no grip as he rounded the 2.45-mile
road course. By Lap 3, Johnson had been passed by both
Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin as Ambrose was next in
line to do the same. Seven laps later, the 32-year-old
completed the pass and set his sights on the top two
spots.
With the first caution of the race at Lap 17, Ambrose
reiterated to crew chief Frank Kerr that he was too
loose and had lost grip. Kerr elected to keep Ambrose
out on the road course to stick to their game plan
and stay in their fuel window. The field came down
pit road at Lap 19 minus Ambrose and only few others.
“We had to stick to our fuel strategy game,” Kerr
said. “Marcos was one of three cars that stayed
out.”
“We were loose and didn’t have good forward
drive at that point,” Ambrose said.
Ambrose was second and immediately snatched first
place from Kasey Kahne after the green flag waved.
“Of course, the car was much better in clean
air,” Ambrose said.
At Lap 23, while still in the lead, Ambrose and Kerr
were faced with the decision to pit or not to pit when
the yellow flag was displayed for an incident involving
David Stremme spinning around collecting Kevin Harvick
and Jeff Gordon. Ambrose was in first place, Kasey
Kahne was second, Kurt Bush occupied third, Kyle Busch
was running fourth and Jimmie Johnson was fifth at
the time. Out of that group, Kahne relinquished his
spot to head to pit road while the other four in the
top-five stayed out.
“It was still too early for fuel,” Kerr
said. “We decided to pit on our cycle and not
deviate from that strategy. We made the right choice.
I wasn’t panicking yet.”
“We had to still stick to our plan,” Ambrose
said.
Ambrose led the field back to green flag racing on Lap
26 with Kurt Busch in second, Kyle Busch in third, Johnson
in fourth and Greg Biffle in fifth. Ambrose fought to
hold the Busch brothers off to maintain the lead even
though he was about the only car that hadn’t been
to pit road. One lap later, the No. 2 car completed the
pass and Ambrose fell to second. On Lap 29, Kurt Busch
gave up the lead and headed to pit road. Ambrose was
back out front.
On the next lap, the No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota
entered pit road under green flag conditions for the
first time for four tires and fuel. Jimmie Johnson
was the new leader, Kyle Busch was second and Stewart
was third. Exiting pit road, Ambrose was 35th.
Another caution at Lap 43 allowed the JTG Daugherty
Racing team to bring Ambrose back down pit road for
four fresh Goodyear tires and fuel. Their strategy
was to only stop one more time for a splash of fuel
as Kerr told his driver everyone else would have to
take four tires. At that point, Kerr and his crew knew
they were going to be 11 laps short.
“In the end, we had to get a splash of fuel
not matter what,” Kerr said. “Everyone
ahead of us was going to have to take four tires and
all we had to take was a splash of fuel.”
Ambrose restarted 31st on Lap 45 with Kyle Busch showing
the way. By Lap 53, he had broken into the top-20 as
Stewart snatched the lead.
On Lap 55 while running 15th, Kerr called Ambrose
to pit road under green for his splash of fuel while
Stewart and others ahead of him followed suit. Ambrose
was back on track and in eigth place knowing he was
two laps short on fuel.
At Lap 59, Ambrose returned to the top-five and was
scored in fifth place with a really loose-handling
race car. The next time around he was fourth, and Scott
Speed was in the lead with Kyle Busch second and Stewart
in third.
All of a sudden a horrific crash involving Sam Hornish
Jr. happened on Lap 62 when the No. 9 car of Kasey
Kahne got loose and made contact with Hornish's No.
77 entry. The wreck was a spectacular one that collected
Jeff Gordon, Jeff Burton, Joey Logano and a few others.
NASCAR had to red flag the 90-lap
event at Lap 63 to clean up the accident.
“We were still a lap or two short on fuel at
that point,” Kerr said. “Each caution,
I told him to save fuel and to coast around with the
motor off. I hoped we had enough to make it to the
end.”
At 2:29 p.m. ET the red flag was lifted and the race
restarted at Lap 66 with Kyle Busch in the lead, Tony
Stewart in second and Ambrose in third. The next time
around Stewart had passed Busch for first place. Then
it was Ambrose’s
turn to pass Kyle for second place, and on Lap 68 Marcos
did just that.
A caution on Lap 70 for a tire in the middle of
the track from the No. 19 car of Elliott Sadler was
a big relief for Ambrose, Kerr and his JTG Daugherty
Racing team.
“I keyed up the microphone and told Marcos that
we were in good shape on fuel when the caution came
out,” Kerr said.
On the Lap 73 restart, Ambrose was lined up beside
the No. 14 of Stewart ready for battle. Back under
green, Ambrose was running lap times as fast as the
leader. However, Stewart started to slightly distance
himself from the No. 47 Little Debbie® Toyota.
Ambrose kept the leader in sight with 10 laps to go,
but was not able to gain ground on Stewart who went
on to win the 22nd race of the 2009 season. Contributed
by Chip Warren, JTG Daugherty Racing
Heluva Good! Sour Cream
Dips at
the Glen
Results:
1. Tony Stewart
2. Marcos Ambrose
3. Carl Edwards
4. Kyle Busch
5. Greg Biffle
6. Juan Pablo Montoya
7. Kurt Busch
8. Max Papis
9. Clint Bowyer
10. Denny Hamlin
Next Race — Carfax
400:
Where: Michigan International Speedway,
Brooklyn, MI
Time: Sunday, August 16, 2009
Network: ESPN, 1 p.m. / MRN Radio 1:15 p.m.
(All Times Eastern)
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