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 Marcos Ambrose has had a steady run in the O’Reilly 300 to net 18th place at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas today.
Ambrose collected his third top 20 finish from the past four races in the #59 Kingsford Hickory Ford Fusion at the fast 1.5-mile speedway.
The finish sees the Australian maintain 16th in the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series standings after seven of 35 races.
Today’s race was largely uneventful for Ambrose and on the whole, the race had fewer caution periods than is usually the case.
This meant that Ambrose, who had a loose (oversteer) race car for much of the 200-lap race, only had minimal opportunities to make set-up chances at pit stops.
Nevertheless, 18th is a solid result for Ambrose as he aims to reacquaint himself with new crew chief Gary Cogswell and the consistent run today will have no doubt helped that cause.
Only six of the top 20 drivers in today’s race were Nationwide Series only drivers, with nine of the top 10 finishers at Texas all full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers.
Kyle Busch won today’s O’Reilly 300 ahead of Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer.
Ambrose and JTG Racing will be back in action next weekend for the Bashas Supermarkets 300 at Phoenix International Raceway on April 11.
Marcos Ambrose - #59 Kingsford Hickory Ford Fusion
“We finished the race and learned some more, which was important this weekend as we had a new crew chief,” said Ambrose.
“We’re pretty pleased with that. It wasn’t stellar, and we were loose in all day, but with our direction I’m really excited and feel confident. The racing just got away today.
“There weren’t many cautions today so we didn’t have much opportunity to make adjustments at the stops. I mean, we’re brand-new, and we’ve got a brand-new set-up on the car, and we’re really happy how things progressed.
“We had speed at certain times of the race. We just were slow at the wrong times when it had long green runs. But, I’m very excited, and I think we’re building something pretty good here.”
RESULTS: O’Reilly 300 at Texas Motor Speedway
Race 7 in the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series
1. #18 Kyle Busch 200 laps
2. #29 Jeff Burton
3. #2 Clint Bowyer
4. #21 Bobby Labonte
5. #16 Jamie McMurray
6. #32 Brian Vickers
7. #5 Dale Earnhardt Jr
8. #6 David Ragan
9. #38 Jason Leffler
10. #20 Tony Stewart
18. #59 Marcos Ambrose 199 laps
STARTING ORDER: O’Reilly 300
*qualifying rained out - field set by 2008 Owner’s Points
1. #33 Kevin Harvick
2. #2 Clint Bowyer
3. #60 Carl Edwards
4. #29 Jeff Burton
5. #99 David Reutimann
6. #20 Tony Stewart
7. #6 David Ragan
8. #22 Robby Gordon
9. #88 Brad Keselowski
10. #5 Dale Earnhardt Jr
24. #59 Marcos Ambrose
2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series Standings - After Race 7 of 35
1. Clint Bowyer 1047
2. Carl Edwards 990
3. David Reutimann 927
4. David Ragan 913
5. Kyle Busch 888
6. Brad Keselowski 879
7. Mike Bliss 848
8. Jason Leffler 841
9. Kelly Bires 820
10. Kevin Harvick 817
16. Marcos Ambrose 661
2008 NNS Prizemoney after 7 races:
Marcos Ambrose: US$211,706 (A$229,743)
AUSTRALIAN TV REPLAY
Saturday 11 April 2008
Ten HD
12:00pm – 1:00pm AEST
ABOUT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Track Length: 1.5 miles (2.414km)
Race Distance: 200 laps – 300 miles (482.80km)
Degree of Banking in Turns: 24 degrees
Degree of Banking on Straights: 5 degrees
NASCAR NATIONWIDE SERIES RECORD BOOK
Defending Nationwide Race Champion: Matt Kenseth
Defending Nationwide Polesitter: David Ragan Marcos Ambrose 2007 Qualifying: 29th
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