Asian Motor Sports

Australian driver Marcos Ambrose scored his maiden top five finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at the Kansas Speedway on Saturday when he crossed the line in third place to stun the series regulars.

Proving to be a very quick learner in the American art of oval racing, the former Australian V8 Supercar Champion qualified fourth for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 and made an excellent start to move into the race lead during the early laps.

The NASCAR rookie then drove a smart race, running in the top 15 and keeping his nose clean. Ambrose and his Team Australia crew had set up the truck to be at its best at the end of the race when the extra rubber on the surface produces more grip, so the Tasmanian was keen to get to the latter part of the race in a position to challenge for a good finish.

After his last pit stop Ambrose sat in 14th position, but the Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards truck came on strong, with Ambrose storming up the order to be fifth when a caution period was called on lap 146 of the 167-lap race.

At the restart Ambrose followed Brendan Gaughan past Ron Hornaday to reach fourth and on the last lap the Team Australia driver made one more position, getting third by edging past Gaughan right on the finish line.

The third place finish is the highest by a rookie in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series this season and is the first time a non-American driver has finished in the top five of a truck series event since Canadian Ron Fellows won on the Watkins Glen road course in June 1999.

“This is just great,” said Ambrose. “This is what we came over here to do. We had a great start. I went around the outside of everybody and led the whole field for those first laps.

“We drifted back a bit and let a few guys through. We just worked on getting the pit strategy right and waiting for the track to come to us. After our last stop we found ourselves in about 14th position but the truck was good towards the end and we made up a lot of ground.

“I’m learning all the time over here and the set-up is crucial. Tonight we definitely made it work. The truck was pretty loose at the start, but as rubber goes down there is more grip and it pushes the nose up the racetrack and straightens you up. So you have really got to hold on for the first part of the race and come back towards the end. It’s just a bit wild there at the start when you are hanging the tail out at 180mph.

“We ran around in the pack all night and mixed it with the fastest guys out here. We definitely had a better truck as the rubber went down and I felt confident running with other trucks and racing these guys.

“This result was a while coming and we definitely felt half-ready to go a couple of races ago. We just had to cycle through and get some finishes under our belt. What we have been trying to achieve is to get a little better each time we go out and keep improving the truck.”

Thanks to his Kansas points tally Ambrose moves up one position in the drivers standings to 30th overall despite having missed the opening three races of the season.