P R E S S   R E L E A S E Note: This press release may have been edited for formatting purposes only

Posted on July 1, 2008	Email   Print

LOUDON, N.H. – The strategy for Marcos Ambrose and the No. 59 STP/Kingsford Ford was simple last Saturday during the Camping World RV Sales 200. The team wanted to stay out of trouble, use good pit strategy and get out of the New Hampshire Motor Speedway with a Top-15 finish.

They got all that – and more.

Ambrose drove JTG Racing to a 14th-place finish at The Magic Mile to remain 13th in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings.  “Sometimes you have a 15th-place car and it takes everything you’ve got to finish in the Top 15,” said crew chief Gary Cogswell. “We’re never completely satisfied when we don’t finish in the Top 10, but we got all we could. We’re taking our STP/Kingsford car home in one piece, and we can work on it a little bit before the next race. We finished on the lead lap and gained some points. We made the best of it.”

New Hampshire is well-known for its lack of grip, especially at the exit of Turns 2 and 4. Ambrose said his Ford Fusion had trouble with front-end traction as he prepared for the long run down the straightaways. “It was a reasonable day for us,” he said. “We fought hard and had a good strategy and stayed out of trouble, which is one of the things you want to try and do before the start of the race. It would have been nice to get a Top-10 out of it, but we’ll take 14th and move on.”

The last two tracks on the Nationwide schedule have been on flat, one-mile ovals. Ambrose also finished 16th at Milwaukee, signaling a significant improvement with the team’s flat-track program. “We’re hanging in there,” Ambrose said.  “We took our program to the next level. The challenge now is to take it to the next step.”

Ambrose will drive a different car out of the JTG Racing stables at next Friday’s Winn-Dixie 250 at the Daytona International Speedway. The team has cars built to fit the different nuances of each track. “We’ve got a good car for Daytona,” Ambrose said. “We’ll take the car we used at Milwaukee and Loudon back to the shop and get it ready for the next short track.”

Ambrose now is 10 points from 12th place in the standings, and 144 from the Top 10.

“Top-10 is one of our goals,” Ambrose said. “We’ve been moving in that direction. As long as we keep doing what we’re doing, we’ll be fine.”     

FAST & FUN FACTS:

- Ambrose is 13th in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings with three Top-10 finishes in 18 starts for JTG Racing.

- Tony Stewart won the Camping World RV Sales 200. Denny Hamlin was second, followed by Kyle Busch in third, Kevin Harvick in fourth and Carl Edwards in fifth.

- JTG Racing teammate Kelly Bires finished 22nd in the No. 47 Clorox Ford.

- The Winn-Dixie 250 is Friday night at 8 at the Daytona International Speedway.

The opinions expressed on this site are not necessarily those of the publisher.  All comments other than website related problems need to be directed to the author.  Copyright 2000-2008 SpeedwayMedia.com.

Click here to discuss this at our forum!