Ambrose takes fourth place in Las Vegas

Australia’s Marcos Ambrose has finished this morning’s Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in fourth position.

After starting on the front row Ambrose even spent time as the race leader at one stage around the fast 1.5-mile oval.

Over the closing laps he put his Ford within a few car lengths of Juan Pablo Montoya (Chevrolet) before settling for fourth position.

The race was won by Carl Edwards (Ford) from Tony Stewart (Chevrolet).

The result has seen Ambrose jump 10 places in the season standings to sit in 17th position, heading into the fourth race of the year at Bristol.

It is at Bristol where Ambrose scored what is still his best Sprint Cup finish on an oval, third place in the fall race in 2009 for JTG Daugherty Racing.

“I think I’ve kept my job for another couple of weeks,” joked Ambrose with reporters after the race.

“We were a little tight. We fought all day and it was a great top-5 result.

“We are going to have a great year! Todd Parrot (Crew Chief) on the box is doing an awesome job for us. Great pit stops and a top crew – we have a lot of great energy going!”

It was the first time in 12 races that the Tasmanian had finished in the top-10. It was the eighth top-5 finish of his Sprint Cup career.

After finishing second in the Daytona 500 and having his pole-winning car knocked into the fence the following week at Phoenix, Edwards finally found Victory Lane.

Edwards took the lead from Tony Stewart during a cycle of pit stops late in the race. Stewart, who had taken two tyres in a track-position play on his previous stop, had to pit early for four tyres during the final run.

The Ford driver had the luxury of taking two tyres on his final stop, and that gave him the margin he needed to beat fast-closing race runner-up Stewart.

The victory was the 19th of Edwards’ career.

Kyle Busch entered the race as the series points leader but failed to leave Las Vegas in that position. The engine in Busch’s #18 Toyota detonated on Lap 108, spewing flames from beneath the car.

RESULTS: Kobalt Tools 400
Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Las Vegas, NV)

1.	#99	Carl Edwards	Ford
2.	#14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet
3.	#42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chevrolet
4.	#9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford
5.	#39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet
6.	#56	Martin Truex Jr	Toyota
7.	#11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota
8.	#88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet
9.	#22	Kurt Busch	Dodge
10.	#83	Brian Vickers	Toyota

2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Points Standings after Race 3 of 36

1.	Tony Stewart	Stewart-Haas Racing	113
2.	Kurt Busch	Penske Racing	113
3.	Carl Edwards	Roush Fenway Racing	106
4.	Juan Pablo Montoya	Earnhardt Ganassi Racing	106
5.	Ryan Newman	Stewart-Haas Racing	103
6.	Paul Menard	Richard Childress Racing	96
7.	Martin Truex Jr	Michael Waltrip Racing	95
8.	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	95
9.	A.J. Allmendinger	Richard Petty Motorsports	94
10.	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Hendrick Motorsports	91
17.	Marcos Ambrose	Richard Petty Motorsports	76