DOUBLE DUTY BUT DIFFERENT GOALS FOR AMBROSE IN TEXAS
Two different teams, two different cars, two different series
and two completely different goals -- that's what lies ahead
of Australian NASCAR driver Marcos Ambrose at Texas Motor
Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas this weekend.
Ambrose will pilot the #59 Kingsford Tailgate Ford Fusion of
JTG Daugherty Racing in the O'Reilly Challenge at the fast
1.5-mile speedway as he continues his push to earn a top 10
series finish for the second-consecutive season in the NASCAR
Nationwide Series.
At the same time, Ambrose is attempting to push the #47
Little Debbie Toyota Camry of Michael Waltrip Racing into the
top 35 in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series owner's points. In Sprint
Cup competition, where Ambrose has eight previous starts, the
top 35 cars in the owner's points are guaranteed a start in
each race, meaning that Ambrose will have to qualify on speed
at Texas this weekend for the Dickies 500.
In Nationwide Series competition Ambrose has three starts at
Texas, with a career-best finish of 18th earlier this year.
He has posted one win (Watkins Glen), three top fives and
five top 10s in 32 starts in 2008.
Meanwhile, this weekend will serve as Ambrose's Sprint Cup
Series debut at Texas Motor Speedway, a venue that saw
Michael McDowell, the previous driver of the third MWR Sprint
Cup entry, survive an enormous crash in qualifying earlier
this year.
Ambrose will also join fellow NASCAR stars Jamie McMurray,
David Ragan, Jason Keller and former champion Rusty Wallace
in challenging Nationwide Tour golfers JJ Killeen, Matt
Weibring and Scott Gutschewski in a charity competition
involving golf and racing skills on Saturday morning.
Drivers and golfers will team with members of the media in a
closest-to-the-pin chipping competition and NASCAR racing
simulator competition
Nationwide Insurance is naming-rights sponsor of both the
NASCAR Nationwide Series and the Nationwide Tour, the
second-tier competition to the US PGA Tour. The Nationwide
Tour golfers are in Texas to prepare for the Nationwide Tour
Championship, which will take place November 6-9 at the TPC
Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas.
MARCOS AMBROSE:
"Texas is a track I like because it is fast, really smooth
and has a lot of grip," said Ambrose.
"This will be my first time racing a Cup car at Texas. It is
a fast learning process for me right now. I'm discovering
what I need from the car, realising what I need for the race
and learning the guys as they address what I need.
"I am glad I had the opportunity to gain some experience at
Texas in other series before attempting to qualify the #47
this weekend, because it's certainly a fast, tough, 'take
no prisoners' type of track.
"The Nationwide race on Saturday, and the extra track time
that comes with that, will hopefully help my learning curve
as well.
"We are looking to build on the weekend we just had at
Atlanta and improve upon that.
"We want to leave Texas with a strong finish. We have got a
good team in place and we are taking a brand new car and I
feel like we are more than capable to finish well.
"This weekend our focus is doing our best at an intermediate
track. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is so different from any
other division. The races are lengthier and there is such a
level of intensity. If you lose track position, it's very
hard to get it back.
"It's a big challenge to compete in two different series at
the same time, especially when you're driving cars that are
so different.
"There's a huge difference between the Nationwide and
Sprint Cup cars. You always benefit from track time, but they
react differently to adjustments, they have different ranges
of power and they don't drive the same because they have
different levels of downforce.
"But as a driver, when you jump from one car to the other,
it only takes a lap or two to get adjusted.
"We want to finish strong in the Kingsford car this season.
We're not satisfied with just being 10th in the Nationwide
standings; we want to see if we can move up to eighth or
ninth. Nothing we're doing on the Cup side will distract us
from trying to make that happen."
-credit: ma/bam
