All Fizzed Up from Last to Third @Infineon 6.22.09
Like a shaken bottle of Napa Valley’s finest sparkling wine, Marcos Ambrose, “All Fizzed Up”, sprayed from dead last in his #47 Toyota through a field of 42 other drivers to finish 3rd at Infineon. This would be the second time that the Tasmanian native would defy odds coming from the 43rd spot to finish third at a road course. Ambrose accomplished the same task as a rookie one year earlier at Watkins Glenn.
When asked in a TNT post race interview about his career best finish in a NASCAR Sprint Cup race and elevation to the #18th spot in points, Marcos replied, “I don’t care about points, I just want to look good.”
He sure looked good rolling off the hauler in Sonoma. It appeared Ambrose had struck gold in the rolling hills of Northern California with a third place qualifying run, putting him on the second row for the start of the Toyota/SaveMart 350, behind Kyle Bush and pole sitter Brian Vickers, until it all went up in smoke when his engine failed in practice on Saturday. This marked just the beginning of challenges Ambrose would face out on the track. After rallying to get the car back on the track after a blown engine, Marcos slammed into the back of Jimmie Johnson coming into turn 11 in the final practice session, leaving damage on the bumpers of both cars. And surely, the contact would not end there for the former Australian V8 Supercar Series Champion. It would be an all out door banging day of aggressive, yet finesse filled driving that would take Michael Watrip Racing‘s #47 to the front of the field. At moments it seemed Ambrose might not survive to finish. Lap 75 during green flag pit stops, Abrose roared off pit road, tagged Bobby Labonte, sending the #96 into a tailspin…Ambrose drove through. More dramatically, on lap 89 coming in hot to turn 11, Hamlin (on the inside) forces Ambrose wide and head on into the pit wall. The #47 nosed in against Denny’s driver side door, barely scraping by and leaving some yellow and red paint behing on the pit road wall. He may even have offered Hamlin the internationally recognized hand gesture of displesure. We’ll have to go back to the tapes on that one.
The 115 lap race, which showcased seven yellow flag double file restarts, would conlcude with it’s final restart on lap 112 for a green, white, all out sprint for the checkered flag. As fierce as Ambrose battled all day, he simply was not fast enough to pass Tony Stewart (2nd place) and race winner Kasey Kayne who were both dominant and near flawless all day.
For Marcos Ambrose, it would be day of 3rd’s. For Kasey Kayne, a day of 1st’s. Kayne scored his first win of the 2009 season, his first career win on a road course, and the King’s first win for the newly formed Richard Petty Motorsports.
Congratulations to Kasey Kayne, Richard Petty and all our Fathers on this special day!!!
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