Marcos Ambrose retains his eighth position in the overall Busch Series Standings overall and his second place standing in the Busch Class. He also maintains his tight tussle with ex-Formula One driver Juan Pablo Montoya in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year competition. Montoya finished one place ahead of Ambrose last Friday night.
Ambrose ran comfortably inside the top 15 for the first half of the race. The two-time Australian V8 Supercar Champion dropped down the order slightly in the flurry of late-race pit stops and once among the battling on the verge of the top 20 he was unable to forge a break and get back up the order. Ambrose encountered a close shave on the final lap of the race as he avoided a series of clashes that culminated in his Wood Brothers/JTG Racing team-mate Jon Wood crashing when he was left no where to go when cars spun on the track.
“We were running well and felt good in the early part of the race,” said Ambrose. “It shows some of the progress we have been making that we can qualify in the top ten and run well on a one-mile oval like Phoenix. This is a tough race track and it was a tough field out here today. It certainly felt good running around with all the Cup guys in the first part of the race. "We ran well, showed some speed and we kept our spot in the standings."
While racing into turn three, the McDonald’s Ford was hit and slammed into the outside of the turn three wall. The car suffered serious damage and required major repair work. Crew Chief Chris Wright led a 50 lap repair job on the car, allowing Bobby Hamilton Jr. to return to action for the finish of the event. Instead of a top-20 finish, Hamilton was saddled with a 34th place finish after starting the even in 19th position. With the setback, Hamilton dropped to ninth in the Busch Series Point’s Championship.
“This is a disappointing way to finish the race,” said Hamilton. “Our car wasn’t perfect tonight, but we should have been able to finish inside the top twenty and move on to Talladega. We will rebound and do our best to take the McDonald’s Ford to the front of the pack next week.”
"The Pack?" Uh, I believe Bobby's terminology is more like "The Cluster".
Denny Hamlin seems to have this Car of Tomorrow thing figured out. On Thursday night at Phoenix International Raceway, Hamlin qualified third for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 (8 p.m. ET Saturday, FOX), his third top-10 start in as many COT races. He led 125 laps at Martinsville, second only to Dale Earnhardt Jr. He finished third, after starting from the pole. He led 177 laps in the COT's debut at Bristol, second only to teammate Tony Stewart. But a fuel-pump issue slowed his effort and resulted in a 14th-place finish.
"The guys in the JGR [Joe Gibbs Racing] shop spent a ton of time and effort in preparing these cars and it is pretty clear they hit on something because we have been really strong," Hamlin said. "Really, only some random problems kept us or the 20 [Stewart] from winning at Bristol. "Then we were both good at Martinsville the next weekend so I do feel like we are ahead of the curve at the moment but this sport can change in a hurry. We know we need to keep working hard on these cars, and hopefully win one here."
Hamlin will start in a favorable position for victory at Phoenix. Three races from PIR have been won from the third starting spot, tied with second for most at the track.
Hamlin earned his first career pole at Phoenix, in just his sixth Nextel Cup start, when he took the controls of the No. 11 Chevrolet for the final seven races in 2005. He finished 13th in that race -- a missed lug nut ruined a possible top-five finish -- but was third in his most recent attempt there this past fall.
"Really, no track that we visit reminds me more of racing when I was younger than PIR. I spent my early career running flat tracks in Late Models and this track feels like that to me," Hamlin said. "Put us out there under the lights and you can't get any closer to the Late Models days than here at Phoenix and that is one of the reasons it's my favorite place to race."
"We didn't really know what to expect," Gordon said of the COT. "Qualifying is one thing. We'll see how this car is when you're around other cars on the track in practice [Friday] and then again in the race on Saturday." "So far, everything has been good," Gordon said. "If this team keeps giving me great cars and the effort they've been giving, this could be a great season."
O.K., I have blogged on about all sorts of various details for all of the guys who need to quit trying to qualify for these Cup races. If you haven't got the message yet you must be deaf. I haven't mentioned our newby this week, Brandon Ash. But Brandon Ash? What is he thinking?
The snakes will be picked up on Snake Hill in Phoenix this week by Brandon Ash, Michael Waltrip, Jon Andretti, A. J. Allmendinger, Jeremy Mayfield, Ward Burton, and David Reutimann.
Now it is also time to pay a lot more attention to something else. I have a new game. Jay Jay has posted similar posts. But this has more to do with who can possibly make it to the top 35 in points this year to set themselves up for next year. This is a big deal. The stakes are high. Real high.
I am calling it "You Can't Drive 35." Some of these guys are so anchored as go or go home cars that they really need to start thinking about what they are going to be doing next year. If they don't, Silly Season may come really fast whether they want it to or not.
So let's start taking a look at candidates this week that are really in trouble because while they may continue to make races this year on time, they probably can't get into the top 35 thus failing to anchor five starts for their teams to start the 08 season which will make it darned hard if not impossible to secure sponsorship next year.
The first " You Can't Drive 35" candidate is a familiar face. Yes Kenny Wallace is back. Kenny drives for Furniture Row Racing sponsored by itself, Furniture Row so Silly Season may not apply to him in the usual manner. But how long can these rich boys continue spending their own funds to do this? And why do they do it? Oh yeah, I forgot, the purse for starting a cup race is almost more than winning a Busch race. We have to fix that.
O.K. then, why does Kenny demean himself by driving their car? The money?
He can't need the money. Of course, a million dollars is a million dollars and if you would like to have another million dollars and you could get it by doing something you love. And if you might just luck out and eek out a real upset win on gas mileage or something one time provided you can stay on the lead lap, well, I guess then, that's it. A million dollars. "If I Had A Million Dollars...
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