Ambrose Outruns Kyle Busch in Nationwide Race at The Glen

Credit:  Getty Images for NASCAR

WATKINS GLEN, NY – RIS – Marcos Ambrose did what everyone expected him to do on Saturday.  He won the Zippo 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series at Watkins Glen, but it wasn’t easy.  After recovering from an early spin after contact with Kyle Busch's Toyota, Ambrose held off Busch in the closing laps of Saturday's Zippo 200 at the Glen to win the series-best fifth road course race of his Nationwide Series career.

The Australian driver has won four consecutive NNS starts at 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International, having triumphed in three straight from 2008 through 2010 and this year after a three-race hiatus from competition at the Glen.

Though Ambrose knows full well the big prizes -- a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series victory in the Cheez-It 355 at the Glen and a berth in the Chase -- will be contested on Sunday, he was eager to savor the NNS win.

"I just want to enjoy today," Ambrose said. "You get to victory lane, and it's special. I would love to repeat, but it's a lot of work tomorrow. I want to think about this and get a good night's rest and come attack them tomorrow."

During an exchange of pit stops with 32 of 82 laps left, Ambrose surged past Joey Logano as the driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford exited pit road. When the sequence of stops cycled through, Ambrose, who had pitted one lap earlier than Logano, held the lead, with Logano running second.

Ambrose kept the top spot after a restart on Lap 63 that followed the fifth and final caution of the race. With five laps left, Busch roared past Logano but couldn't get to the bumper of Ambrose's No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford in time to make a move for the win.

Logano came home third, followed by pole winner Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth. Rookie Chase Elliott ran sixth and extended his series lead to 12 points over JR Motorsports teammate Regan Smith, who finished 17th.

The way Logano saw it, losing the spot to Ambrose during the cycle of green-flag stops was crucial.

"That was definitely a key moment," Logano said. "If I was able to get in front of him there… all I needed was three-tenths of a second probably, and that would have been enough position into that corner to beat him through the esses and get position. I felt like, if I got clean air and ran hard, that I could have gapped him.

"I think at the end of the race, he would have caught me and the 54 (Busch) also. It would have been close. I'm not going to say we would have won the race. It would have been close. Our car was good on the short run. Marcos was steady all the way through and the 54, late in the run, was really fast. If I didn't run so hard and had clean air and didn't burn the tires off, would I have lasted longer? Yeah.

"Would it have been enough to beat him? We'll never know. But I feel it would have been closer for us, for sure."

Ambrose agreed.

"I think if I hadn't cleared him right there, he would have been gone," Ambrose said. "Maybe I could have stalked him a little bit and got him in traffic, but we had a fast enough car to lead like that, but it would have been really tough to pass."

Before the battle with Logano was even a consideration, Ambrose had to recover from a Lap 6 spin in the bus stop chicane after he and Busch collided near the entrance.

"He ducked out late, and then the spotter was late," Ambrose said. "I was already committed to that line, and he thumped my left rear there. It wasn't intentional. I've got no malice against him whatsoever—he spun out, too."

Busch wasn't quite as charitable in his assessment of the mishap.

"We didn't qualify as well as we needed to and tried to make a move on somebody who didn't give a crap, and then he just turned into me and spun us out, so that put us behind," Busch said. "We came back and got second."

The accident may have helped both drivers. Both Ambrose and Busch brought their cars to pit road for fuel and fresh tires under caution on Lap 13. Knifing his way through traffic, Ambrose worked his way back to fifth before pitting again under green on Lap 20, covering stops made by Keselowski (Lap 18) and Logano (Lap 19).

"If you'd told me that's how we were going to do the race, I would have said that's a bad strategy," Ambrose quipped. "But it worked out for us—first and second. For two guys doing pirouettes in the bus stop, that's pretty cool.

"And it just shows you how these races are never over. You can't quit. Just because you're in the grass backwards doesn't mean your race is done."

Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Pts Bns Driver Rating Winnings Status Tms Laps
1 4 09 Marcos Ambrose(i) Stanley Ford 82 0 143.5 $53,875 Running 2 48
2 3 54 Kyle Busch(i) Monster Energy Toyota 82 0 120.2 $28,500 Running 1 1
3 2 12 Joey Logano(i) Snap-on Ford 82 0 123.0 $22,375 Running 3 6
4 1 22 Brad Keselowski(i) Hertz Ford 82 0 120.6 $23,225 Running 2 13
5 10 20 Matt Kenseth(i) Reser's Toyota 82 0 111.2 $19,300 Running 1 2
6 15 9 Chase Elliott # NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet 82 38 97.8 $21,732 Running
7 14 11 Elliott Sadler OneMain Financial Toyota 82 37 96.4 $20,031 Running
8 8 3 Ty Dillon # Yuengling Light Lager Chevrolet 82 37 1 99.1 $19,461 Running 1 1
9 6 33 Paul Menard(i) Turtle Wax/Menards Chevrolet 82 0 99.8 $13,050 Running
10 7 2 Brian Scott Shore Lodge Chevrolet 82 34 86.3 $20,331 Running
11 17 99 James Buescher Toyota Care Toyota 82 34 1 76.0 $18,906 Running 1 2
12 28 16 Ryan Reed # ADA Drive to Stop Diabetes presented by Lilly Ford 82 32 71.1 $18,631 Running
13 16 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare Ford 82 31 74.6 $18,531 Running
14 19 19 Mike Bliss Tweaker Energy Shot Toyota 82 31 1 80.3 $18,381 Running 1 1
15 13 42 Kyle Larson(i) Cartwheel by Target Chevrolet 82 0 82.6 $12,750 Running
16 26 51 Jeremy Clements RprbleVhcls.com/AllSthElctrc.com Chevrolet 82 29 1 72.3 $18,256 Running 1 1
17 5 7 Regan Smith AmericasPower.org Chevrolet 82 28 1 87.5 $19,206 Running 2 2
18 18 87 Stanton Barrett BarcodeMedia.net Ford 82 26 68.1 $18,331 Running
19 25 55 Brennan Newberry(i) Qore 24 Chevrolet 82 0 64.9 $18,056 Running
20 31 93 Tomy Drissi(i) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Dodge 82 0 50.0 $18,706 Running
21 30 4 Jeffrey Earnhardt The Great Outdoors RV Superstore Chevrolet 81 23 56.7 $17,956 Running
22 36 70 Derrike Cope youtheory Chevrolet 81 22 43.8 $17,901 Running
23 20 44 Carlos Contreras 38 Special/Ingersoll Rand/Voli Toyota 81 21 51.1 $17,826 Running
24 29 14 Eric McClure Reynolds Wrap/Hefty Ultimate Toyota 81 20 40.1 $17,726 Running
25 21 43 Dakoda Armstrong # Charter Ford 81 19 56.2 $18,176 Running
26 27 75 Kenny Habul Sun Energy 1 Toyota 81 18 48.9 $11,420 Running
27 11 31 Dylan Kwasniewski # AccuDoc Solutions/Rockstar Chevrolet 81 17 74.0 $17,576 Running
28 9 62 Brendan Gaughan South Point Chevrolet 80 17 1 78.9 $17,501 Running 1 5
29 12 60 Chris Buescher # Cheez-It Ford 79 15 56.9 $17,451 Running
30 38 74 Roger Reuse WCIPARTS.COM Chevrolet 79 14 31.6 $17,701 Running
31 33 17 Tanner Berryhill # NationalCashLenders.com Dodge 74 13 33.4 $17,326 Running
32 22 40 Matt DiBenedetto Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet 73 12 50.7 $17,251 Running
33 23 01 Landon Cassill Flex Seal Chevrolet 43 11 40.7 $17,216 Suspension
34 32 39 Ryan Sieg # RSS Racing Chevrolet 38 10 42.3 $17,156 Overheating
35 24 28 JJ Yeley Texas 28 Spirits Stage Dodge 33 9 60.6 $17,109 Accident
36 37 52 Joey Gase Donate Life Chevrolet 30 8 27.8 $16,286 Electrical
37 34 23 Kevin O'Connell 50 Camp Fires Chevrolet 25 7 33.9 $16,251 Accident
38 39 10 Blake Koch SupportMilitary.org Toyota 6 6 29.3 $10,011 Rear Gear
39 35 46 Josh Wise(i) Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet 3 0 30.4 $9,875 Brakes  

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the midle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

Read More on Cup / XFINITY / Truck news
Volume 2014, Issue 8, Posted 10:21 PM, 08.09.2014