Ambrose To Skip NASCAR at Infineon
The Aussie NASCAR Rookie to Skip NEXTEL Cup at Infineon Raceway
In a late move Marcos Ambrose has postponed his NEXTEL Cup debut until the Watkins' Glen round of the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup.
Ambrose was due to drive an Aussie Vineyards Ford in the NASCAR Nextel Cup event at the Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.
Due to his consistent performances in the #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion in this year’s Busch series Ambrose and the Wood Bros/JTG team have decide to concentrate on the AT&T 250 at the Milwaukee Mile in Wisconsin this weekend.
The plan originally was for Ambrose to do double duty and run both races. However, the 2150 miles distance between the two race meetings meant Ambrose would miss all of practice and qualifying for the Busch event and only fly in for the race on Saturday night.
“It was a tough decision not to race in Sonoma, but I am completely behind the rescheduling,” said Ambrose.
The move is a disappointment to Ambrose fans that were anticipating his return to his roots of road racing, particularly after his promising results in the Busch road race in Mexico.
“In one respect it’s obviously unfortunate that we will not run the Aussie Vineyards Ford Fusion at Infineon. We had a really positive test a couple of weeks ago and had a car prepared that was capable of doing a really good job,” said Ambrose.
Part of the reason for concentrating on the Milwaukee race is the nature of the track.
Milwaukee is a different sort of race track to what we normally run,” said Ambrose.
“It’s very flat and it’s quite a unique place. The entire venue has lots of tradition but from a driver and team’s point of view it the challenge of setting the cars up that takes most of our attention.
The Watkins Glen event, with both events at the same circuit that weekend, will be easier for Ambrose to do ‘double duty’, racing in both the Busch and Cup races. For a smaller team it makes it easier for pit crew and personnel for both entries.
With the team’s other cars struggling with bad luck and poor performance the decision to concentrate on the series and driver where they are achieving their most success make sense.
“But we really need to focus on our Busch team and doing the best for our sponsors. We are an emerging team that likes to do things right, so this is the best way to go,” said Ambrose.
With Ambrose moving back into the Busch series top ten and being one of the main contenders for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year title the team do have a good foundation for a successful season.
