Marcose Ambrose giving the tumbs up earlier this year - Image courtesy of JDTImages
Wow what a finish! With a bunch of wrecks tearing up the fields behind him, Marcos Ambrose stayed composed and passed both Brad Kesolowski and Kyle Busch in the same corner and drove off with a smile on his face so big you could see it through the in car camera. Ambrose, a 4 time Aussie V8 champion, finally scores his first win after 4 seasons in NASCAR racing a full schedule in the Sprint Cup series. This makes Marcos Ambrose the 5th first time winner this season, and the 15th different winner this season.
Marcos was a very happy man in victory lane.
“Man I’ve sacrificed so much to get here and finally win on in the Cup series is a dream come true. I flew my kids home yesterday, the little one’s first day at school and I really wanted to be there, but this certainly makes up for it. I’ve just gotta thank the Richard Petty Motorsports team, Stanley, Dewalt and everybody involved. Mrs petty isn’t doing so well at home we wish her the best, so this win’s for her and the whole Petty family. To Ricard and everyone else who gave me the chance, just thank you very much. But winning in the cup series for Stanley is an incredible feeling and I ‘m very,very proud.”
Having qualified now for the Million Dollar win in Atlanta, Ambrose sounded as excited as the fan that will win the $Million.
“I’ll win a Million Bucks for anyone, I don’t care. I just want to be in victory lane again, it’s a dream come true. The fans out there that supported the Richard Petty and his whole team through all the turmoil last year. Got it back to victory lane and it’s just gonna go onwards and upwards from here. Just a proud day. No one realizes how much work goes into getting to victory lane and when it actually happens it’s almost a surreal moment.”
Brad Kesolowski finished in 2nd followed by Kyle Busch for the top 3. Martin Truex Jr and Joey Logano rounded out the top 5.
While the race for first was happening out front, wrecks were in the mix behind the field on the white flag lap.
The first involved the 51 of Boris Said, the 6 of Ragan, and the 00 of David Reutimann. Said was trying not to get passed by Ragan as the race wound down and managed to squeak ahead of him, but in doing so forced the nose of Ragan out of shape, putting him hard into the wall. The resulting “bounce” put Ragan square into Reutimann who barrel rolled once landing back on his wheels.
Seconds after that wreck Tony Stewart got involved in another wreck at the inner loop (bus stop) as he got into the turn too fast and slid through the grass. He managed to miss everyone on his slide through, but others needed to check up to avoid him, allowing cars further behind to make passes at a crucial moment.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. was one of the drivers who managed to capitalize on the spin and moved from 19th to 15th on the track. This has put him in a much better spot going into the final 4 races before the start of the chase as he has managed to gain a spot to 9th over Tony Stewart in the standings.
The top of the standings also had a shuffle as Kyle Busch leaves The Glen in 1st place overall by one point over Carl Edwards. Gaining 2 positions from 3rd to 1st knocking both Edwards (now in 2nd) and Jimmie Johnson (now in 3rd) back a position each. Kurt Busch’s ended up costing him 2 points in the standings as both Harvick and Kenseth move up a position ahead of the now 6th place Busch.
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Good to see another FIRST TIME WINNER …………………..you go marcos