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SPECIAL

Ford Territory

SPECIAL

Ford Territory

Ambrose Recovers to Finish 26th at Bristol

Staff, Thursday August 24, 2006.

Page 1 of 1

Ambrose qualified in the top 10 for the sixth time this season in his 14th NASCAR start and ran in the top 10 for the opening stages of the race.

The Tasmanian had a hard fought battle for 10th position with NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series leader Todd Bodine for much of the early stages before pitting under caution on lap 28.

After his pit stop Ambrose ran inside the top 20 before the #20 Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards Ford F-150 was turned around by Sammy Sanders, sending the truck into the Turn 2 wall.

The incident dropped Ambrose to the rear and from this point the former two-time Australian V8 Supercar Champion worked to recover positions lost, eventually finishing 26th, two laps down.

Fellow Ford F-150 driver and NASCAR legend Mark Martin won today?s race at Bristol from series leader Bodine and defending NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champion Ted Musgrave. The next event is the New Hampshire 200 on September 16 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

It was a tough day for the Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidates, with the best finishing rookie Erik Darnell, who finished in 18th place to extend his rookie lead.

WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY ?

Marcos Ambrose ? #20 Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards/Aussie Experience Ford F-150

"That?s was a pretty wild race,? said Ambrose.

?It's just a real shame. We had a good qualifying position and we thought we had a good race truck, but it came and got us there.

?Bristol is a tough, tough race track, probably the most aggressive, high banked, fast, crazy race I have ever been in.

?We qualified great. We qualified in the top 10. We were holding on there early on, I just couldn?t get a handle on the race truck. We were pretty free getting into the corners, pretty loose, and I knew I was going to get pumped and shoved around, it was just a matter of when, not if.

?We lost a couple of laps there in the pits and had to work on that and then we got trapped two laps down. We actually ran nearly as fast as the leaders when we got clean air towards the end of the race, but it was too little, too late.

?When you are sliding back in the pack you are always going to get a hard time. You?ve got to be the aggressor out there. You?ve got to have a car that can move forward, not go backwards. That will come with time; this is my very first experience here.

?I?m proud of the team and I?m proud of what we?ve achieved. We qualified top 10 in my first start here and that?s pretty good. We ran fast when we were running.

?I?m a lucky boy and I?m in a great deal. I?ve got a great support network around me with this team and with Ford Motor Company and it is just pretty cool to be part of it.

2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Points ? After Round 17
? Marcos Ambrose did not compete in the first three rounds of the championship.

1: Todd Bodine 2624; 2: Johnny Benson 2470; 3: David Reutimann 2394; 4: Ted Musgrave 2380; 5: Rick Crawford 2323; 6: David Starr 2295; 7: Terry Cook 2248; 8: Jack Sprague 2246; 9: Ron Hornaday Jr 2221; 10: Mike Bliss 2201; 27: Marcos Ambrose 1334.

MARCOS AMBROSE FAST FACTS ? Ambrose has earned US$164,303 in 14 starts this year
? Born in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
? Ambrose won two consecutive V8 Supercar Series Championships in Australia in 2003 and 2004 for Ford
? Drives the No. 20 Ford F-150 for Wood Brothers/JTG Racing in 2006
? Achieved his best result when he finished third at Kansas Speedway on July 1 in only his ninth NASCAR event. Also finished third in Round 16 in Nashville, his 13th NASCAR event
? Ambrose is one of only two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year contenders to score a top three finish this season
? Ambrose is the first Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate to earn two top five finishes
? Became the first Australian to lead laps in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
? Is the first non-American driver to finish in the top five of a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event since Canadian Ron Fellows won on the Watkins Glen road course on 26 June 1999
? Ambrose won his first Budweiser Pole in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Kentucky Speedway on July 8
? Ambrose is the first non-Amercian driver to win a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series pole since 26 June 1999 when Ron Fellows of Canada qualified first at Watkins Glen International
? This was the first pole for the Wood Brothers/JTG Racing team and the first pole for crew chief Gary Cogswell
? Ambrose has now qualified in the top 10 for six of his 14 NASCAR starts to date

TIPS FOR AUSTRALIAN FANS There are several websites relating to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series where you can follow Ambrose?s progress.

The best four we have discovered so far are the official NASCAR.com site, truckseries.com, teamaustraliamotorsport.com and woodbrothersracing.com

You can register for Track Pass on the NASCAR site, which will give you access to radio broadcasts, in-car audio and video of most races for a fee, but you will need a US credit card (so ring a mate!).

You can get a free lap-by-lap written commentary of the races on truckseries.com by going to the trackside area of the site. There are also pre and post race audio interviews.

There are two other websites that have radio coverage of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races, www.wysham.com and www.radiocoloradonetwork.com

ABOUT BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Location: Bristol, Tennessee
Race Distance: 200 laps = 106.6 miles (171.556km)
Track Length: 0.533 miles
Degree of Banking in Turns: 36 degrees
Degree of Banking on Straight: 16 degrees

CRAFTSMAN TRUCK RECORD BOOK
Race Record: Travis Kvapil, 2003 (88.813mph/1hr, 12mins, 1 sec)
Qualifying Record: Ken Schrader, 2004 (126.922mph/15.118secs)
Defending Champion: Mike Skinner
Defending Polesitter: David Reutimann

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