Podium for Ambrose on the ‘Monster Mile’

Australia’s Marcos Ambrose has scored his best result of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series so far in 2011 with third place in the FedEx 400 at Dover International Speedway.

The result equals his best oval track result.

The race was won by Matt Kenseth, who like Ambrose, used a two-tyre call late and held-on from the re-start of on Lap 367 all the way to the finish on Lap 400 from Mark Martin just 0.2-of-a-asecond ahead of Ambrose.

The top-5 was rounded out by Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers.

Ambrose ran strongly throughout the event, quickly moving up from his 18th starting position. Good driving was complemented by execellent work in the pits and was a threat throughout the entire race as he climbed to as high as second and even challenged for the lead on a number of occasions on a track that he rates as a favourite.

“Today I am really excited,” said Ambrose.

“We had a really good day at Darlington but it didn’t work out at the end. We had some terrible luck.

“We have had two top-10s on the 1.5 mile speedways this year and I am really excited that our team is learning. They are learning me and I am learning them. I am learning how these cars work.

“This result today I am really excited about because I think it is going to lead to a great Charlotte, Pocono, Indy, Kansas, all those tracks coming up I feel like we are suited to those tracks and I am excited about it.”

The result moves the Tasmanian up to two places in the championship chase to 20th, just 30 points out of the all-important 12th position.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series has a weekend off from points paying competition to concentrate on the Sprint All-Star Race, which will be held at Charlotte Motor Speedway next Saturday night.

Marcos Ambrose’s next big challenge is to gain a starting spot in the Sprint All-Star Race, which is scheduled for the 21st of May at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

The non-points paying race with a one million dollar prize purse for the winner is an invitation only event, closed to Sprint Cup race winners from the 2010-11 season, former series champions and All-Star Race winners from the past 10 years.

Ambrose can gain a start in the race by either finishing in the top-two in the qualifying Sprint Shootout race, or by winning the popular fan vote www.nascar.com/promos/allstar/2011/vote/

Current ratings have Ambrose inside the top-ten contenders, as fans are allowed to vote once an hour until polling closes.

Results: FedEx 400 – Dover :  Race 11 of 36 

FIN	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	LAPS	STATUS
1	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Wiley X Sunglasses	400	Running
2	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	400	Running
3	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Dewalt	400	Running
4	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s	400	Running
5	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Red Bull	400	Running
6	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	BB&T	400	Running
7	Carl Edwards	Ford	Aflac	400	Running
8	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	400	Running
9	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s	400	Running
10	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Budweiser	400	Running
11	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	400	Running
12	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	Amp Energy Sugar Free / National Guard	400	Running
13	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Miller Lite	400	Running
14	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Shell / Pennzoil	400	Running
15	David Reutimann	Toyota	Aaron’s Dream Machine	400	Running
16	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Ground / AutismSpeaks .org	400	Running
17	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont	400	Running
18	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	Kingsford / Bush’s Beans	400	Running
19	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M	400	Running
20	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker	398	Running
21	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Haas Automation	398	Running
22	David Gilliland	Ford	Taco Bell	398	Running
23	Casey Mears	Toyota	GEICO	397	Running
24	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	CertainTeed / Menards	396	Running
25	Mike Bliss	Ford	U.S. Chrome	396	Running
26	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	Golden Corral	396	Running
27	Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot	395	Running
28	David Ragan	Ford	UPS “We Love Logistics”	395	Running
29	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Mobil 1 / Office Depot	394	Running
30	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	Thank A Teacher Today / Security Benefit	394	Running
31	Travis Kvapil	Ford	A&W All American Food	394	Running
32	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target	393	Running
33	Andy Lally *	Ford	Interstate Moving Services	389	Running
34	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Companies	361	Running
35	Tony Raines	Ford	Front Row Motorsports	341	In Pit
36	Kasey Kahne	Toyota	Red Bull	331	Out of Race
37	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford	Best Buy	166	Out of Race
38	Scott Wimmer	Dodge	Fast Five / Speed Energy	77	In Pit
39	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	NEMCO Motorsports	55	Out of Race
40	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	Red Line Oil	51	In Pit
41	Mike Skinner	Toyota	Big Red	51	In Pit
42	David Stremme	Chevrolet	Inception Motorsports	47	In Pit
43	Michael McDowell	Toyota	HP Racing LLC	45	Out of Race

 Championship after Race 11 of 36 

RANK	+/-	DRIVER	POINTS	BEHIND	POLES	WINS	TOP 5	TOP 10
1	—	Carl Edwards	416	Leader	2	1	6	9
2	—	Jimmie Johnson	392	-24	0	1	4	7
3	—	Kyle Busch	379	-37	0	2	6	7
4	—	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	364	-52	1	0	2	5
5	—	Kevin Harvick	362	-54	0	2	4	6
6	+4	Matt Kenseth	342	-74	1	2	4	5
7	-1	Ryan Newman	340	-76	0	0	4	5
8	+1	Clint Bowyer	336	-80	0	0	2	6
9	-1	Kurt Busch	336	-80	0	0	1	5
10	-3	Tony Stewart	328	-88	0	0	1	4
11	+3	Mark Martin	324	-92	0	0	1	4
12	—	Greg Biffle	311	-105	0	0	1	4
13	+3	Denny Hamlin	304	-112	0	0	1	3
14	+3	Jeff Gordon	299	-117	1	1	3	3
15	-2	Juan Montoya	296	-120	2	0	2	4
16	-5	A.J. Allmendinger	295	-121	0	0	0	2
17	+1	Paul Menard	291	-125	0	0	2	3
18	-3	Kasey Kahne	286	-130	1	0	2	5
19	+1	Martin Truex Jr.	282	-134	0	0	0	3
20	+2	Marcos Ambrose	281	-135	0	0	2	3