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[/media-credit]Marcos Ambrose has been very consistent at the road courses in his NASCAR career and took home his only Sprint Cup series victory last season at Watkins Glen.
This weekend the series goes to Sonoma, a track where Ambrose has only competed on four times but has some impressive stats, including three top-10 finishes in his last three races along with a driver rating of 108.8.
Add that he has four road course victories in the Nationwide Series (three at Watkins Glen and one at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve) and he certainly comes into this weekend as one of the favorites.
Ambrose does feel a bit of pressure on him as he sits 17th in the point standings.
“The expectation of me succeeding at a road course race is obviously very high. But that doesn’t change. I’m driving the No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion for Richard Petty to win every race, not just two road course races. I apply myself the same every week. The pressure is not much different, it’s just the weight of expectation I guess this weekend and for Watkins Glen as well, the expectation of success is what we have to balance out. I can’t change the way I drive. I’ve got to keep doing my best out there. If I do my job well and the team does, we know we’ll be a contender for the race win.”
As if that wasn’t enough, Ambrose will have a little more incentive this weekend. He will also be racing for a $1 million dollar purse which will be donated to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals should he win.
“Well, there’s nothing like added pressure” he says, “trying to race for $1 million for sick kids is definitely up there on the stacks of just trying to win the race. We did this last year; came up a little bit short. I’m doubly determined this year to try to win the race and help those kids and help our race team achieve success we all hope.”
But regardless of where he finishes Sunday’s race, Stanley Tools and Ace Hardware will still donate $100,000 to the charity.
“We’re going to shed a bit of sunshine on their day. We’re going to go to the Children’s Hospital on Thursday, bring the car, do some pit stops for them, say hello, some carnival activities to give them a bit of fun and try to get them to forget about why they’re in the hospital in the first place.”
His car will carry a special paint scheme that will include the names of the four “Honorary Crew Members,” as well as one child from each U.S. state and Washington D.C. Each name featured on the car is a current or former Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals patient who has met their unique medical challenge with courage.
NASCAR cars were never really designed for road courses and presents a unique challenge, especially at the narrow Sonoma.
“Sonoma is a very twisty, tight, narrow racetrack with a lot of elevation change. These cars are dinosaurs as far as race cars go. They’ve got way too much power, 900 horsepower, they don’t have enough tire grip, they’re too heavy, and they don’t have enough brakes.”
“As a race car driver, these cars are really hard to handle and you really have to manhandle these cars around the racetrack. You have to take it by the scruff of the neck and force it to go around. You’re fighting physics at this point when you have a car that heavy and that powerful. It’s hard to get it around a tight, twisty road course.”
“I guess the fact is that everybody is driving the same vehicles. No matter what they throw at you, you have to deal with it. This is one of the most challenging and rewarding racetracks we go to. I think all the drivers would tell you they love driving the cars around Sonoma, it’s just really hard to race with all the competition.”
Being a technically challenging track, some bump-and-run may be in order.
“It’s hard to make passes. Going bumper-to-bumper and side-by-side when you make a pass, even when it’s clean, it’s hard not to make contact. It’s a sellout crowd at the track. One of the best races to watch. You’re going to have to do a few bump-and-runs and make a few contacts to win the race. We’re all prepared for that and all understand the consequences of that.”
He has had some close calls here in the past couple of races at the California track.
Last season it was pit strategy that left Ambrose out of contention for the win. Despite being the quickest car on the track, late in the race, he gambled by coming down pit road for tires. The #9 team was certain that another caution would come out but, it never did and he settled for 5th.
In 2010, he couldn’t re-fire his car after switching it off to save fuel in the closing laps, ending his hopes of a win NASCAR’s premier series.
Expect him to be a strong threat for his second career Sprint Cup series win in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350.
The race can be seen at 2:00 p.m. ET on TNT
