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Ambrose Shows His Class on Unlucky Night for Team Australia at Indy

Staff, Monday August 7, 2006.

Page 1 of 1

Marcos Ambrose has finished 22nd in the Power Stroke Diesel 200 at O?Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Indiana today, but it was almost a great deal better for the Australian and the Team Australia NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series outfit.

Ambrose again showed that he is improving with every race and had the #20 Aussie Vineyards/Aussie Experience on a charge in the later stages of the event, only to be hampered by another truck?s accident while running in around 15th position.

The Team Australia driver qualified in 19th for today?s race and settled into the race pace in the early stages. Still in only his 12th NASCAR race, Ambrose continually worked on the set-up of the Team Australia truck, making a set-up change at every pit stop.

By the latter stages the Tasmanian-born driver was in the groove and looking at improving his position in the field, having found more confidence in the set-up of the Aussie Vineyards/Aussie Experience truck as the race wore on.

But on lap 185 of the 200 lap race, Robert Richardson made contact with another truck on the front straight and lost control, spinning into the side of Ambrose?s #20 Team Australia entry and pushing it up into the wall in Turn 1.

Ambrose made two pit stops under the subsequent caution period to rectify repairs to the #20 Aussie Vineyards/Aussie Experience truck and in doing so remained on the lead lap. Thanks to the swift efforts of the Team Australia crew, Ambrose was able to finish in 22nd position and gain a further 97 points for his championship tally.

Rick Crawford won today?s Power Stroke Diesel 200 at O?Reilly Raceway Park, the 15th race in the 2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, ahead of Dennis Setzer and Ron Hornaday.

WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY ?

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

"We had a 200-lap race tonight and I think we did about 199 pit stops,? said Ambrose.

?One of the problems for us tonight was that this was a one day race meeting and you do all your set-up on the truck during the day.

?Then when the race rolls around it is night, so we really made a lot of changes to the truck tonight during the race because the track is completely different at night. We made a lot of pit stops and always kept changing the set-up to get it better. If we had a race tomorrow we would be set.

?As we improved the Aussie Vineyards truck?s set-up we managed to get up into around 15th position. On the front straight two trucks ahead of me got together, one had a tank-slapper and spun up into me and hit me up into the wall.

?We managed to pull a fender off and get the truck going to stay on the lead lap and finish in a respectable position, so I have to take my hat off to the crew for some slick pit work in the dying stages there.

?Over half the trucks here tonight finished with damage, it?s just the way it is over here on the short tracks. Sometimes you can?t help what happens in front of you, so you just have to make the most of what you?ve got.

?We did more laps tonight on a short track and gained more confidence. We?ll just keep pressing on and look to the next event in Nashville."

MARCOS AMBROSE FAST FACTS
? Born in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
? Ambrose won two consecutive V8 Supercar Series Championships in Australia in 2003 and 2004 for Ford
? Will drive 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
? Ambrose is one of only two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year contenders to score a top three finish this season
? 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
? This is the first time a Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate has won the pole since November 2004 when David Reutimann captured the No. 1 starting position at Homestead-Miami Speedway
? 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 five of his 12 NASCAR starts to date
? History was made on lap 13 in Kentucky when Ambrose and Mexico?s Michel Jourdain Jr became the first non-Americans to run one-two in a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race

2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Points ? After Round 15
? Marcos Ambrose did not compete in the first three rounds of the championship.

1: Todd Bodine 2307, 2: Johnny Benson 2125, 3: Rick Crawford 2120, 4: David Reutimann 2110, 5: Ron Hornaday Jr 2070, 6: Ted Musgrave 2055, 7: David Starr 2037, 8: Terry Cook 2014, 9: Dennis Setzer 2005, 10: Mike Bliss 1986, 30: Marcos Ambrose 1079.

ABOUT O?REILLY RACEWAY PARK AT INDIANAPOLIS
Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
Race Distance: 200 laps = 137.2 miles (220.8km)
Track Length: 0.686 miles
Degree of Banking in Turns: 7.5 degrees
Degree of Banking on Straights: 2 degrees

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