Catchfence

Marcos Ambrose/DeWalt - Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR

No. 9 DEWALT Ford Fusion

Marcos Ambrose started the 400-lap NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Charlotte Motor Speedway from the second position. Ambrose finished the longest race of the season as follows:

32nd—Marcos Ambrose, No. 9 DEWALT Ford Fusion

• · Starting the 600-mile event in second place, Ambrose quickly took the point position from teammate Aric Almirola and was credited with leading the first lap of the race.

• · Though Ambrose was leading the race, he quickly relayed to the DEWALT crew that his car was loose on entry and exit of the corners. A pit stop on Lap 44 allowed the crew to bolt on four fresh tires, add fuel and make a wedge adjustment in an attempt to correct the loose condition.

• · Ambrose continued to run in the top-two until Lap 123 when he began to lose grip and slipped back to fourth place.

• · A caution on Lap 135 allowed Ambrose to come into the pits for four tires and fuel only. Several other cars elected to only take two tires and Ambrose restarted in 15^th place.

• · Having four fresh tires and a fast DEWALT Ford, Ambrose was able to make up ground to the leaders and was back in the top-10 by Lap 167.

• · Just past the 200-lap mark, the Australian native communicated to the crew something didn’t seem quite right with the No. 9 machine and at Lap 218 he brought the car into the pits for the crew to assess the problem. After a short time in the pits it was determined the left front hub was bad, and Crew Chief Todd Parrott instructed Ambrose to take the No. 9 to the garage for repairs.

• · Once in the garage, the Richard Petty Motorsports crew quickly went to work to replace the hub and Ambrose was back on the track at Lap 252 scored in 35^th position, 33 laps down to the leader.

PACSUN

• · Though Ambrose was no longer in contention for the win he was still clicking off lap times as fast as the leaders and relayed to the crew he had a great handling car.

• · Ambrose and crew refused to give up and by virtue of getting the DEWALT car back on track, the No. 9 was able to gain three positions and Ambrose took the checkered flag in 32^nd place.

• · Kasey Kahne was the victor in Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 and Greg Biffle was the highest finishing Ford, coming home in fourth place.

• · Unofficially, Ambrose sits in 20^th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver point standings heading into Dover next weekend.

Ambrose’s Thoughts After the Race: “What a tough day for the whole DEWALT crew. We had a car capable of winning the race tonight and it’s just a shame that a hub issue cost us a good finish here at Charlotte. My guys did an awesome job to give me such a great car for ‘The 600’ and it was pretty cool to be out front in the beginning of the race. Our results definitely didn’t do our DEWALT team justice, but we’ll keep our heads up and go into Dover knowing that we have had some really good cars the past few weeks.”

Source: Richard Petty Motorsports, Press Release