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Talladega Looms Large For Ambrose |
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Thursday, 26 April 2007 |
Team Australia driver Marcos Ambrose hits the biggest speedway in NASCAR this weekend as he tackles the Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama for the tenth race of the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series.
It will be Ambrose’s second ‘restrictor plate’ event in the Aussie Vineyards-backed #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion. The Australian’s first NASCAR Busch Series superspeedway event came in the opening race of this season at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway, where Ambrose finished an impressive 16th on his Busch Series debut.
Ambrose will use the same car he raced at Daytona this weekend at the
2.66-mile Talladega layout. The former two-time Australian V8 Supercar
Champion will be looking for a similar result this weekend as he
strives to maintain his lead in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year
standings over Juan Pablo Montoya and David Ragan. Ambrose currently
lies an impressive eighth in the NASCAR Busch Series standings, only
four points behind experienced Busch Series driver Mike Wallace.
Ambrose not only has Talladega Superspeedway to contend with this
weekend. Twenty Nextel Cup drivers have entered the Aaron’s 312, making
it a great challenge for Ambrose, who will enter his 32nd NASCAR event
this weekend.
Marcos Ambrose – Aussie Vineyards-backed #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion
“This is our second restrictor plate race,” said Ambrose.
“We don’t do as many restrictor place races as the other tracks so it’s
not really my most comfortable form of oval racing at this stage.
“It’s very fast and quite treacherous. Talladega is different to
Daytona as well, as it is a little wider and has more grip so it is
very fast. We will more than likely stay in one pack around there so
the first 90 laps or so are just going to be about staying out of
trouble.
“For the last part of the race if you’ve set yourself up right you can really get in there and have a go.
“At our first Busch race at a superspeedway earlier in the year in Daytona we didn’t perform very well in qualifying trim.
“But we had a very stable race car that worked nicely in the draft, so
we were able to draft with some guys and move forward to get a very
good result.
“The important thing on these superspeedways is to have a car that
works well in the draft. If you can have that and also have some
drafting help you can get a good result at Talladega.”
Greg Conner – Crew Chief, #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion
”We’re taking our Daytona car to Talladega,” said Conner.
“We had a great car at Daytona, but it’s really built for Talladega.
We’re so confident in the car, we’re going to hang back and miss all
the wrecks until the final pit stop.
“Then we’ll go racing.”
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