[media-credit name=”Credit: By Tom Pennington, Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”237″]
[/media-credit]Marcos Ambrose, driver of the No. 9 Stanley Ford, whose win on Sunday at Watkins Glen International put him in contention for one of the two Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Wild Card spots, currently sits 17th in points heading into the Pure Michigan 400 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday (Aug. 19). On Ambrose’s last visit to the track in June, he sat on the pole with a track record qualifying lap of 203.241 mph and finished ninth. Ambrose was subject of the weekly NASCAR teleconference Tuesday afternoon.
MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 9 Stanley Ford Fusion – WHAT ARE YOUR TEAMS EXPEPECTATIONS GOING INTO THE RACE AT MICHIGAN ON SUNDAY? “We have put ourselves within ear shot of making the Chase. If we can win one more race we are pretty much locked into the Chase format. After winning at Watkins Glen our only other option right now is to keep winning. We are going to Michigan after being on the pole there in the first race and running top five most of the day, we feel we have a great chance to win that race and lock ourselves in the Chase and that is really our only focus right now.”
WHICH UPCOMING TRACK GIVES YOU THE BEST CHANCE TO WIN AGAIN? “Definitely the best track for us coming up is Michigan after having such good speed there in the first race. I traditionally do pretty well at Bristol as well and have had a lot of good runs there. I have yet to get a victory at Bristol but I feel like that is a really good place for us to potentially surprise a lot of folks and compete for a win. You never know. We are very focused on just trying to get the most out of our team right now. It is all about trying to win races for us.”
CAN YOU SPEAK TO THE MOMENTUM YOU HAVE GOING AND HOW A TOP-10 FINISH THIS WEEKEND AT MICHIGAN WOULD BE THREE IN A ROW FOR YOU? “We have to be careful because we just are coming off a road race and for me that is what is expected at a road race. I thought we had a good run at Pocono with a top-10 there and we have momentum, there is no doubt about that. We have to keep that going. Our team has had a lot of really great runs this year and we have had a lot of speed. We have had trouble converting that speed into results. We have had small issues and mechanical problems and driver error and wrong strategy. You name it, we have had it. We have to get our mind off all that and keep our focus. It has to be being aggressive on the strategy and aggressive with the car and me on the race track being aggressive to get that next win. Without that we are just going to be racing for 15th or 16th in the championship and that is not what we are after. We are after more than that. It is exciting for us to be in this position. The lead up to Watkins Glen was all about that we were within striking distance but we needed to make some strides. Definitely winning at Watkins Glen helped us get some momentum and definitely gets us closer to where we want to be but there is a lot of work to be done here.”
YOU MENTIONED YOUR FATHER WAS NOT FEELING WELL. HOW ARE THINGS GOING WITH HIM? “Yeah, he was in Tasmania, Australia, and it is the middle of winter down there and there is a lot of stuff going around. He got himself a kidney infection and checked himself out of the hospital to go home and watch the race and I think he is doing really well. He hasn’t checked himself back in the hospital. I think he is on the road to recovery and feeling fine. I talked to him the other night and he sounded really good.”
AT WHAT POINT DURING THAT FINAL LAP DID IT OCCUR TO YOU IT MIGHT BE MORE SLIPPERY THAN NORMAL SUNDAY WITH THAT OIL ON THE TRACK? “Well, for me it was probably with four laps to go when I really started struggling with the car and was inconsistent. I thought I had a tire going down. I could see the car was slipping away and I was getting pressure from Brad Keselowski from behind. I think that was the start of the issue for me. Once we got to about two laps to go I could see the other cars starting to spin around in the oil and I could see that this race was going to be one that anyone could win. It got to the final lap and the track was getting pretty nasty and there was a lot of oil that you couldn’t see. The car would just take off on you and you couldn’t predict how it was going to act. I knew it was anyone’s race at that point. With a lap and a half to go I realized it was anyone’s race.”
MARCOS AMBROSE CONTINUED — HAS BRAD KESELOWSKI COME TO YOU FOR ANY ROAD RACING ADVICE? “No, I don’t think he needs to. He is getting really hard to beat these days. Even if he did come ask I probably wouldn’t give him a straight answer. He is a great road racer, as is Kyle Busch. There are a whole lot of Cup regulars that you can’t discount on these road courses. They are seriously talented drivers and can drive anything at any track at any time. Brad has done a great job and I feel like I have stolen two wins away from him at Watkins Glen the last couple years. He will get his turn. This weekend we are all about the No. 9 Stanley team and that is where we want to keep it.”
YOU WERE THE FASTEST MAN IN NASCAR IN JUNE AT MICHIGAN. ARE YOU BRINING THE SAME CAR BACK AND WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR CHANCES ARE? “We are really looking forward to Michigan and think we have a great shot at it. I am really excited about our chances there. We really need to win another race to make the Chase and there is no easier formula than if you are not first you are last. That is the way we are approaching this weekend and the next three. We have to be on full attack mode, concentrate on our car speed, be aggressive with our strategy and try to get that next win.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON FUEL MILEAGE AND SAVING FUEL WITH THE NEW EFI SYSTEM? “I guess there are definitely techniques to saving fuel. There is no computer system in the car that is telling you that you are doing a good or bad job. You have to learn from experience and that comes from running out of gas a few times to work out where you are weak and what you need to work on. Now the manufacturers of the engines, the car engine builders, they are allowed to see what is happening to those engines through the EFI data and they can really tell that different drivers with different techniques make it easier for the drivers to learn what works well and what doesn’t work as far as saving fuel goes. It is still very difficult to gauge how much you are using and how much fuel you have in the car when you do your pit stops. It is very much a gray area for us to work under. You don’t know how full you got the car when you pitted. You don’t really know how much the can weighs at the end if you had any fuel splash. Feul on the ground doesn’t get weighed. Then the drivers have to get a fell for how much fuel they are saving. All those things under the pressure of a race environment make it challenging for the teams and drivers to make a choice on fuel mileage. I know personally that at Watkins Glen we weren’t going to make it on two stops so we built a strategy on a three-stop race and went from that.”
YOU HAVE BEEN THROUGH A SITUATION OF FINISHING OUT THE YEAR WITH ONE TEAM WHILE KNOWING YOU ARE SWITCHING AT THE END OF THE YEAR. WHAT IS THAT LIKE? “That is a really tough position to be in and all the team players, drivers, crew chief, team owners, they have to be respectful of each other to finish up. A couple seasons ago I was in that position with JTG Racing and knew that I wasn’t going to return the following season and out of the 10 or 12 races we had to go we had to work really hard and I was working hard at being as committed as you need to be and the team committed to me. That is what makes our sport challenging because nothing stays the same forever. It keeps moving and shifting and things happen. I guess we are all big boys and need to have respect for each other and mindful. We are dealing with peoples careers, livelihood and families that are all affected by the changes. You want to do things the right way and it takes effort to do that.”
DID YOU FIND ANYTHING THAT WORKED? WAS THERE A WAY TO AVOID AWKWARDNESS? “I think you have to be honest and factual and truthful at all times if you can. If you get any doubt or you feel like you are being double-crossed or feel like you are not being told the whole truth then that is when trouble starts. My objective in life is to be a good dad, a good husband and a good person. For me, being a stand-up guy and straight shooter is the only way to go. That is how I have approached my world at JTG when it was changing and I feel like the team did the same coming back to me. That is how I think things went well – we were respectful of everyone and their objectives and goals of what they were trying to do.”
MARCOS AMBROSE CONTINUED — HOW DIFFERENT IS THE FEALING WITH YOUR TEAM THIS WEEK NOW THAT YOU HAVE A SHOT TO MAKE THE CHASE? “Well it really helps that we are having these discussions because we are all talking about it as a team and it is starting to sink in. If we win another race it gives us a chance to make the Chase. We have to stay focused. The question that keeps coming back to my mind again and again is just like I did this time last year, I can be so commanding and in control on a road course race, competitive all weekend and we knew going into the weekend we had a chance to win and pulled it off. How do we get that same mindset, feeling and result on ovals? How do we do it straightaway? Part of my chit-chat with the team – I had lunch with them today and breakfast as well – It is the Spring package when you win a race they give you breakfast which is awesome. I had a chance to chat with them and look at the car we used and talked about the changes we will make going back. Really most of our talking has been about how we are going to make the Chase and what we need to do as a team to get there. That is what I am focused on and I am excited about it. Every week in NASCAR things are changing and teams are moving. Just because we won a race last week doesn’t change anything we are doing. We have to apply ourselves and hopefully get it right at Michigan to take the pressure off the last three races.”
WAS THIS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY YOU AREN’T DOING MONTREAL? THINKING YOU MIGHT BE IN CHASE CONTENTION? “No, I am not that smart to make a decision like that. It is just the way it worked out. I would have done the Montreal race but we didn’t have the same level of support to go back and do that as we did last year. It just wasn’t on the schedule. I plan to watch the Montreal race from the comfort of my motor coach in Michigan. That is how I will do it and feel good about that. I have a chance to make the Chase. It is down to me, my team to do. We have the tools, we just have to apply ourselves and get it right. I think that being fully focused on that is okay.”
HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE DOES THIS WIN GIVE YOUR TEAM? “Well, it gives us a lot of confidence. Absolutely it gives the team confidence. As a race car driver, you tend to be a pretty nervous individual. You always feel like the world is on your shoulders, you have to really deliver. You get a win, feel that breath of fresh air, really we’re going to use that to really try to make these last four races before the Chase a fun time for us with a lot of upside if we have the weekend that we hope for.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON DODGE LEAVING NASCAR? “Well, as a NASCAR fan, it’s disappointing to lose a manufacturer. It’s been great that we’ve had four manufacturers in our sport for such a long time. I can understand the reasons. There was a lot of talking about what RPM are doing. We can really focus on the rest of 2013 knowing what Dodge are up to. We can solidify the deal with RPM to move forward in 2013. I think it’s good it’s all out in the open, good that Dodge made the decision. As a race fan I’m disappointed they didn’t want to stay in the sport. I hope they come back soon on behalf of NASCAR and everybody at Dodge, they really helped make the sport what it is. We enjoyed our time racing against them and beating them on occasions.”
CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO THE RACE FANS HOW YOU GET YOUR MIND ALL SET UP AFTER COMING OFF A COURSE LIKE WATKINS GLEN NOW GOING TO A FAST TRACK LIKE MICHIGAN? DOES IT ALL COME BACK TO YOU? BEING ON A TOTALLY DIFFERENT TRACK, DO YOU RUN A FEW LAPS BEFORE YOU GET THAT FEELING BACK IN YOU? “Well, at the Sprint Cup level you have to be ready on the very first lap of practice. I think all the drivers will switch straight into Michigan super high-speed oval mode on the first lap and get after it. We’re all pro racecar drivers. We have a good feel behind the wheel. We know what’s going on. I don’t expect any concerns about switching from road racing onto ovals. It’s a different discipline, no doubt about it. You’ve got to really carry so much speed on these high-speed ovals. You’ve got to know what you’re doing at those speeds to get the car around, especially in the first few laps when you get back to a track like Michigan. I don’t see any troubles. We’re all pro racers out there. We know what we’re doing. From the first practice, you’re really working on the car setup and your technique to try to get ready for the race, and that won’t change.”
MARCOS AMBROSE CONTINUED — AFTER THE RACE BRAD KESELOWSKI SAID, THIS IS RACING AS IT SHOULD BE. IS IT REALISTIC TO THINK WITH ALL THE POINTS ON THE LINE, THAT THAT CAN BE RACING AS IT IS? “I think that lap was one of the best laps of my racing career. I’m sure Brad will tell you the same thing. It was just a thrill to be in that position, to be able to duke it out for a Sprint Cup win in those conditions. It’s meant to be the toughest sport in the world, in racing, and it is. I know it was a safety issue that some drivers said about the randomness of not knowing where the oil was, not being able to see it. I’ve raced on road courses where there’s been 10, 15 cars broken down on the side of the road, rubber and oil still on the track late in a long-distance race, and they keep that race running to crown the winner worthy of the day. Definitely at Watkins Glen you had the fastest three cars of the race duking it out for the win on the last lap. That’s the way it should be.”
AT THIS POINT IN THE YEAR WHERE YOU’RE NEEDING WINS, PEOPLE CAN GAMBLE. WITH POINTS RACING THE WAY IT IS, IS IT UNREALISTIC TO THINK THAT DRIVERS CAN BE THAT AGGRESSIVE AND TAKE THAT MANY CHANCES FOR A FULL SEASON? “Well, for me there was less risk of not finishing that race, finishing the way we did, compared to a green-white-checkered finish on a side-by-side restart. Kyle spun out and still finished seventh. If he would have spun out on a green-white-checkered restart, he would have finished 23rd or 24th. For me, as far as gambling goes, the side-by-side restarts on a green-white-checkered is as big a gamble as you would ever want to take. I disagree with you a little bit, but we all have our opinions.”
THE 9 AND 2 TEAM WERE SO THRILLED BY THE ENDING, THEY WERE HIGH-FIVING EACH OTHER. I DON’T KNOW IF YOU WERE AWARE OF THAT, BUT THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN VERY OFTEN. COULD YOU MAKE A COMMENT ON THAT. “Well, firstly, it shows you what kind of guy Brad Keselowski is. What a stand-up guy. He came over to my team down pit lane, was high-fiving my crew for us winning the race off him. He’s a great person, a great racecar driver, and a huge talent. I think firstly, being so gracious in defeat is a credit to Brad and the guy he is. As far as our team goes, we were just thrilled to be in the mix there at the end, to win the race, to get the victory for Richard Petty. Just a dream come true for us again there at Watkins Glen. Yeah, it was exceptional circumstances the end of that race, and I think that last lap was as good a last lap as you’ll ever see. To have two teams celebrating their drivers like they did, that was great. That’s what racing should be. We race under a lot of pressure. We have a lot at stake out there. We race for a lot of money. We have a lot of pressure from the sponsors, fans, TV ratings. With a finish like that, it was more a sense of just general relief and jubilation that we made it to the checkered flag.”
DOES A WIN LIKE THAT WEAR OFF RIGHT AWAY? IS THE TEAM STILL PRETTY UP AS FAR AS COMING OFF THAT WIN? “Yeah, our team’s up, no doubt about it. Wins are hard to come by at the Sprint Cup level. Whenever you get them, you need to savor them as long as you can. There’s a race coming up this weekend at Michigan. We’re getting our car ready for it. There isn’t a lot of time to sit back and relax. You’ve got to stay on your game and keep moving forward. This weekend’s race, it’s as big a race as what Watkins Glen was. Probably more at stake now. We got ourselves a chance to make the Chase. We really have to deliver on that. You don’t know what’s around the corner. I think the moment in time of a Sunday like we had, Richard Petty in Victory lane, my good friends from Stanley were there, Jack Roush from Ford and Doug Yates were celebrating with us. To be able to be there with my team in Victory Lane, with my family, too, a special day, a special moment in time. It’s those snapshots in time that really make a career. It’s only a few fleeting moments of success over a long period of duress is what racing is generally about so you have to enjoy the good times.”
SOME PEOPLE SAID IOWA SPEEDWAY NEEDS A CUP RACE. WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IOWA GET ONE IF THEY MAKE THE PROPER IMPROVEMENTS? “That’s a good question. I think a lot of the racetracks that NASCAR Sprint Cup goes to, they work really well. You have to keep looking at new venues, find out where the crowd likes the races. Is not for the drivers to really choose what tracks should or should not be on the schedule. I think the track up there is fantastic. But NASCAR has to go where they feel they’re going to reach the most fans and put on the best racing. I’m going to dodge that question the best I can because it’s not really the drivers’ choice to decide where they want to race.”
MARCOS AMBROSE CONTINUED — WITH THE POLE LAST TIME AT MICHIGAN, KNOWING THAT YOU RAN REALLY WELL THERE LAST TIME, DOES THAT ADD ANY PRESSURE TO YOU OR YOUR CREW? “I don’t think it adds pressure. It probably relieves a bit of stress going to the track. You don’t really know what you got until you get started in practice, then you can start formulating how your weekend’s going to look, what to expect from it. So we know we had a good car there in the first race. It was as fast as anybody’s. We ran top five the majority of the day until some issues late. I think that’s really where we need to focus. We need to focus on where we left and get our car just that little bit better that we can pull away from the pack.”
