Asian Motor Sports

Marcos Ambrose gave another clear signal that he is becoming a force to be reckoned with in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with a third place finish in last weekend’s Toyota Tundra 200 at the Nashville Superspeedway.

Equalling his career best NCTS finish, Ambrose moved from fifth to third on the final lap when Todd Bodine and Mike Skinner crashed while disputing the lead although in some respects Ambrose was unlucky not to be involved in the lead battle himself after leading convincingly during the middle portion of the race on Nashville’s tricky concrete 1.33-mile oval.

The Team Australia backed driver moved up four places in the series standings on the back of the result and now sits in 26th place with his eyes set firmly on the top 20 despite missing the first three races of the season.

“I love NASCAR, what a great sport,” said a jubilant Ambrose afterwards. “What great racing, that’s why I came 13,000 miles. I just love racing these trucks,” said Ambrose.

“I have a fantastic team, they give me a great truck week in, week out. It’s great to give something back to them. I knew that we had a better truck on the long run. We’re just trying to be conservative on our set-ups and let me get the experience. I knew I was looking out for my front-right tyre because I could see other guys really getting tight and they were coming back to us, and then the cautions came and that’s what we needed. I knew it was going to be on.

“Third for us is as good as a win; that’s just a great day. We were top Ford and top rookie. I led a lot of laps and it’s just been a great experience. It’s great to give everyone involved with the Team Australia programme a result like this. I think this proves that our first podium result was not an accident and that with some momentum we could push for a race win by the end of the season.”