WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- A day after he made NASCAR history, Marcos Ambrose nearly did it again.
| Advertisement |
|||
| |||
Ambrose, who won the Nationwide Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen International on Saturday to become the first Australian to win a NASCAR race, drove the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford to an impressive third-place finish Sunday in the Centurion Boats at The Glen Cup race after starting last.
"It was just a real thrill," Ambrose said. "You don't get many chances in life to do something special like this, and today I'm going to look back very fondly. I've come a long way."
The win by the 31-year-old Ambrose, a native of Tasmania, was being called back home the biggest breakthrough in international motorsports by an Australian since Alan Jones won the Formula One crown nearly two decades ago.
Ambrose, who raced one year in the Craftsman Truck Series and is in the top 12 in the Nationwide Series, is slated to race full-time in Cup next year with JTG Daugherty Racing.
Eddie Wood will be sad to see him go.
"Marcos has done a heck of a job for the first time here in a Cup car," Wood said. "We needed this so badly."
It was the first top-five finish for the Wood Brothers since 2005 on the road course at Sonoma.
Poor strategy
Dale Earnhardt Jr. started on the front row, gained the lead on the second lap from eventual winner Kyle Busch, and sailed away, leading 27 of the first 28 laps.Then poor pit strategy doomed what could have been a breakthrough day. Earnhardt has never won a Cup road race, and when he was forced to give up the lead with 27 laps remaining by pitting under caution, he lost his track position and finished 22nd.
"What are we going to do to get a good finish?" said Earnhardt, who dropped two spots in the points standings to fourth. "I was happy we had a good car. Strategy got messed up there at the end."
"If the caution hadn't come out, we'd been sitting rosy," said Earnhardt's crew chief, Tony Eury Jr.
