AMBROSE STARTS FIFTH BUT HAS NO LUCK IN LAS VEGAS

Marcos Ambrose has had a potential top 10 result slip through his fingers on a luckless day for the Australian in the Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada today.

Ambrose had strong car speed in the #59 Kingsford Hickory Ford Fusion, but an incident in the second half of the race knocked him out of the event and he was classified in 28th place.

Ambrose was seventh fastest in qualifying and started from fifth place as third fastest qualifier Kyle Busch crashed his car on his second qualifying lap and was forced to start in his back-up car from the rear.

The 31-year-old ran as high as fourth in the opening stages of the race and after the first round of pit stops Ambrose sat just outside the top 10, where he ran during the middle stages of the race.

On lap 131 Ambrose went to pass the lapped car of Johnny Borneman while running in 18th position, but the 83 car did not see Ambrose and turned down on him entering turn one.

The two cars touched and Ambrose spun but did a commendable job in managing to avoid hitting the wall. However, the huge amount of lock that Ambrose put into the steering to keep the car from hitting the wall resulted in the steering arm knocking the oil pump belt off of an engine pulley.

Ambrose pitted to fit new tyres immediately after the spin but when the engine problems were realised his race was over. The result scored Ambrose enough points to elevate him up one spot in the driver’s standings to 27th overall.

Mark Martin won today’s race to give JR Motorsports it’s first NASCAR victory, ahead of Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer.

The next race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series for Ambrose and the #59 Kingsford Hickory Ford Fusion will be the Nicorette 300 at Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend.

Marcos Ambrose – #59 Kingsford Hickory Ford Fusion

“We got pinched down there while I was trying to lap some backmarkers,” said Ambrose.

“I saved it, but when I turned full hard right, the steering arm got into the pulley and knocked the oil pump belt off.

“I shouldn’t have got myself in a bad spot anyway and then this just compounds it.

“We had a long day. We were looking good there for a while, but it wasn’t meant to be.

“We had a car that was capable of running in the top 10 today but again we just had no luck. All we can do now is look to Atlanta and try our best there for a good result.”