[media-credit name=”Credit: By Tom Pennington, Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”237″]
[/media-credit]Marcos Ambrose is the King of the Road in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and his numbers at Watkins Glen prove it. In four starts prior to Sunday’s Finger Lakes 355, Marcos posted four top-5 finishes and went to Victory Lane in last year’s race at The Glen while posting an average finish of 2.2 in those four starts. When the race started on Sunday afternoon everyone’s eyes were on Ambrose who was the heavy favorite to back up his effort from 2011 and by day’s end he didn’t disappoint.
When the race went green. Juan Pablo Montoya led the field into turn 1 but Kyle Busch seized early control as he took over the lead for the first time of the afternoon. It was very apparent from the early going Kyle Busch had a strong M&M’s Toyota Camry pulling away from the field in the early going leading three times for a race high 43 laps on the afternoon.
Brad Keselowski proved to be very formidable all afternoon. Leading 37 circuits around the 2.45 mile road course. Ambrose,Keselowski, and Busch proved to be the class of the field all afternoon combining to lead 88 of the 90 laps and all three played a huge role in the race’s deciding lap.
Busch was in command coming out of turn 1 when his Toyota skidded sideways and Keselowski’s No.2 Dodge Charger caromed off the side of the No.18 car while taking the lead. Ambrose who had been patient all day long saw his opportunity. Coming out of turn 5. Ambrose used a bump and run to pass Keselowski to the outside heading into turn 6 and was able to hold off a hard charging Keselowski over the final two corners to score his second Watkins Glen victory in row.
Jimmie Johnson proved once again that he was back in championship form on Sunday. Johnson used a very quiet and workman like performance to score a third place finish and to take over the championship points lead by one point over Greg Biffle. Johnson,Ambrose, and the rest of the Sprint Cup Series heads to Michigan International Speedway next weekend for the Pure Michigan 400. Busch is the event’s defending champion.
Justin great article, I think this was one of the best races this year. Marcos and Brad bumped, slid and raced like it was the last race of the season. I think this is exactly what nascar and the fans need and want. Races like this will bring the fans out of there chairs cheering and screaming all the way to the finish line.