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Team Australia driver Marcos Ambrose has charged from the rear of the field to record a top 20 finish in the RoadLoans.com 200 at Dover International Speedway today.
After gyrating the Aussie Vineyards-backed #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion and hitting the wall on his opening qualifying lap, Ambrose was forced to revert to his back-up car for today’s race and start from 42nd position.
With the Dover track being a favourite of Ambrose’s following his career-best sixth place finish in June, he was confident of moving up the order throughout the race and the two-time Australian V8 Supercar Champion was a big mover during the early laps.
Within the opening ten laps around the ‘monster mile’ Ambrose had climbed up 12 spots to be in 30th position. Despite the race being punctuated by seven caution periods during the opening half of the race, Ambrose continued his movement towards the front of the pack to be in 15th position at the half way mark.
As the race continued Ambrose battled with the set-up of the back-up car and was unable to extract the maximum speed out of the Aussie Vineyards-backed #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion as a consequence. Despite this, he maintained his position inside the top 20 by steering clear of numerous incidents which resulted in a record 13 caution periods for a total of 61 laps in the 200-mile race.
Today’s RoadLoans.com 200 was won by Denny Hamlin, his third win in the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series, ahead of Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth.
After 29 races in the 35 race series, Carl Edwards continues to head the standings on 4153 points ahead of David Reutimann and Kevin Harvick. Today’s result ensured Ambrose remained inside the top ten in the points standings in eighth position.
Next weekend Ambrose will be in action at Kansas Speedway for the Yellow Transportation 300 for race 30 in the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series.
In the meantime, Ambrose’s focus turns to family duties with his wife Sonja due to give birth to the couple’s second child in the coming days.
Marcos Ambrose – Aussie Vineyards-backed #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion
“It was a very disappointing start to the day in qualifying. I’m not sure what happened I was coming out of turn two on my first lap and I spun which put us behind the eight-ball in a big way for the race,” said Ambrose.
“With the back-up car not perfectly suited to the high-banked concrete Dover track, and the fact that I had to start from 42nd, it was always going to be tough day.
“I was struggling with the front end of the car hitting the ground all throughout the race and as a consequence I was unable to push too hard. So in the end 20th position is a reasonable result when everything is considered.”
RESULTS: RoadLoans.com 200 at Dover International Speedway
Race 29 in the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series
1. #20 Denny Hamlin – 200 laps
2. #8 Martin Truex Jr.
3. #17 Matt Kenseth
4. #22 Mike Bliss
5. #41 Reed Sorenson
6. #60 Carl Edwards
7. #88 Brad Keselowski
8. #11 Jason Keller
9. #16 Greg Biffle
10. #99 David Reutimann
20. #59 Marcos Ambrose
RESULTS: Qualifying
1. #16 Greg Biffle 23.310
2. #60 Carl Edwards 23.394
3. #10 Dave Blaney 23.434
4. #20 Denny Hamlin 23.487
5. #38 Jason Leffler 23.552
6. #41 Reed Sorenson 23.603
7. #8 Martin Truex Jr. 23.610
8. #26 Jamie McMurray 23.630
9. #37 Casey Atwood 23.671
10. #99 David Reutimann 23.678
42 #59 Marcos Ambrose No Time
2007 NASCAR Busch Series Points Standings – After Race 29
1. Carl Edwards 4153
2. David Reutimann 3399
3. Kevin Harvick 3265
4. Jason Leffler 3245
5. David Ragan 3088
6. Bobby Hamilton Jr 3046
7. Greg Biffle 2919
8. Marcos Ambrose 2898
9. Stephen Leicht 2831
10. Mike Wallace 2801
2007 RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR AWARD TALLY
David Ragan 9
Marcos Ambrose 5
Juan Pablo Montoya 4
Brad Coleman 4
Brad Keselowski 4
Kyle Krisiloff 2
Timothy Peters 1
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