That's usually how everything starts doesn't it? Dale Jr to HMS...Gibbs to use Toyotas...the old rumourmill has seen its fair share of stuff this year. Now there's another, and one with an international flavour;

Marcos Ambrose might be graduating to the Cup series in 2008.

Now, ordinarily, I don't bother clicking the 'NASCAR rumour' part on the main page of this site since I tend to prefer reading blogs instead (we get away with showing a bit more passion than proper writers after all)...but the headline in Ben Maller's section "Ford helping Ambrose prep for Cup" was a bit too intriguing for me to ignore.

Last week there was a similar article which didn't actually go anywhere so I thought it might have been the same this time...I was wrong. The Herald Sun say that "Marcos Ambrose will graduate to the multi-million-dollar NASCAR Nextel Cup racing next year" due to his strong position in the Busch standings (rookie season remember...made to look even better when you consider this is only his second year racing on ovals).

Call me a sadist, pessimist, whatever, but I don't think this will work. I'm the type of person who likes seeing someone earn their way into the elite...and yes, Marcos has worked his way from V8's here to Cup over there through the Truck and Busch series...but he's still inexperienced on ovals. Ok, so he's already over 30 years old (which is reasonably old to be considered a rookie I guess), but the fact is he's pretty much still a novice on the ovals...he'll be fine when they go to Infineon and Watkins Glen so I don't have any worries about those.

I am very much torn on this; I want it to be nothing more than a rumour and he stays in the Busch series for next year...but I would also love for it to be true.

We'll have to wait and see I guess...but most things do start with a rumour.

Ok, as many people on here know, I tend to focus my NASCAR blogs on Marcos Ambrose, mainly since we're both Australians. Now, after hearing at the start of 2007 that Marcos would be making his Cup debut at Sonoma, I was rather excited. For you see, Marcos is a pretty handy road racer and the new car rather ####ily reminded me (and Forensic) of the V8 Supercars he raced down here.

So as you can imagine, I was rather miffed when I saw that Marcos' name wasn't on the list for Sonoma. Wood Brothers said they wanted him to focus on the Busch series and the logistics of getting him from Milwaukee to Napa Valley and back were somewhat difficult. Also, since Marcos was in the top ten in points, they didn't think it would be a good idea to split his focus that weekend and I understand that totally.

To Watkins Glen then...both series are racing there this weekend so it's the perfect time to chuck Marcos in a second car and see how he does. After all, he can only be on a massive high after his performance in Montreal a few days ago.

Now imagine my surprise when I see the preliminary Cup list and his name isn't on it.

Fair enough, it says it's only provisional...but come on, did Marcos have to win in Montreal to get a drive or something? If he wasn't so loyal to Wood Brothers for giving him a shot last year, I am betting there are a few other teams who would love to have him in their car this weekend.

I was really looking forward to seeing him give the new car his best shot...but now it looks like that will have to wait. And, unlike Marcos in his postrace interview, I will be mad (not as mad as my avatar though) if he isn't even going to be given a chance by his team.

See how mad my avatar is? Oh wait, wrong picture...um, never mind then

Yes, Bill Elliot is a great driver and highly respected within NASCAR circles, but give the best road racer you have in your stable a go...surely he proved that he can handle these cars on those types of tracks?

Someone tell me it's April 1 since this must be a prank.