Plate Win-Finally

[slorydn1]

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhooo oooooooooooooooooooo

[harvick#1]

Florida goes down in Basketball...and Harvick is right back where he left off

:beer:

what a day

now its time to watch Southern Illinois play Butler :D

[dont_be_jack]

Florida goes down in Basketball...and Harvick is right back where he left off

:beer:

what a day

now its time to watch Southern Illinois play Butler :D

What team do you want to win? SIU or Butler?

[harvick#1]

Siu :D

[Robert Ryan]

Ambrose picks up the best finishing Rookie prize in his first Busch race.

[dont_be_jack]

Siu :D

They've got a great team this year.

[e2mtt]

Hmmf. Florida will recover, win the rest of the games this year, and win another NCAA championship.

Gannassi better learn to make JPM's cars last a little longer.

[tassiedevilAB]

Ambrose picks up the best finishing Rookie prize in his first Busch race.
I thought you would be more happier than that Robert, I didn't get to see or hear the race, & i am more excited than you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a great achievement by Marcos, he did what he said he was going to do, & also pulled off the rookie award! You can not ask for better than that Mate! show some aussie passion!

18/02/2007

AMBROSE 16TH AND TOP ROOKIE IN STRONG BUSCH SERIES DEBUT AT DAYTONA


Marcos Ambrose has begun his 2007 NASCAR Busch Series campaign with an excellent 16th place finish in the Orbitz 300 at Daytona International Speedway in Florida today.

In his first Busch Series race and his first at the 2.5-mile Daytona superspeedway, Ambrose showed strong pace in the #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion to finish on the lead lap and ahead of many more experienced rivals.

Before an estimated crowd of 100,000 fans, Ambrose also finished as the top rookie, winning the Australian the Raybestos Rookie of the Race Award.

Ambrose earned US$47,950 (A$60,935) in prizemoney for the 16th place finish in the 300 mile (482.80km) event out of a race prize purse of US$2,596,288 (A$3,299,387).

Ambrose started from 37th for the 120-lap race and quickly worked his way forwards while maintaining a conservative approach, the Australian keen to gain a finish in the first race of the season.

The tactic proved worthwhile, with several cars out of the race early as accidents brought out two separate caution periods in the first 20 laps of the race.

Ambrose continued to move forward and run with the lead pack in the middle stages of the race. After the final round of pit stops Ambrose had the #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion in 20th position and with the lead pack.

Over the final stages of the race Ambrose edged forwards, finishing in 16th and one place behind Wood Brothers/JTG Racing team-mate Jon Wood.

The top 12 drivers in today’s race will also start tomorrow’s Daytona 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup event, with those 12 drivers part of a contingent of over 20 Cup drivers who participated in today’s Busch Series event.

Reigning NASCAR Busch Series Champion Kevin Harvick won today’s Orbitz 300 ahead of Dave Blaney and the Ford of Carl Edwards.

Ambrose will have his next race at the second event of the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series at California Speedway on February 24, which is followed by his first NASCAR road course event in Mexico City on March 4.

Marcos Ambrose – #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion

“This is a really great way to start the season,” said Ambrose.

“Sixteenth here at our first race at Daytona is almost like a win for us. It feels really great.

“This was a real bogey track for us. It was more about getting to the finish and not feeling intimidated out there.

“First race of the season and first race at Daytona was always going to be big so it was important to feel comfortable out there and it feels great that everything went so well.

“We were relatively close to the second crash. It was just a matter of slowing it down and getting through. I knew exactly what was happening, I just had to get around it. It was always going to happen because that’s just a part of superspeedway racing.

“It feels so great to be on the other side of this race with a solid result. This was always going to be our toughest event for this early part of the season and now we can really press forward.

“We can look forward to Mexico City and we were really happy with how we went in testing at Las Vegas so we can hopefully do some good things in the next few weeks. But it was so important to get through Daytona with a clean car and get some good points and that’s what we have done.

“I have to thank the team for their efforts this weekend. We worked hard at everything and came away with a great finish. Now we can look forward to the next few races and aim to keep improving.”

Results – Orbitz 300 (Race 1 of the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series)
1. #21 Kevin Harvick
2. #32 Dave Blaney
3. #60 Carl Edwards
4. #2 Clint Bowyer
5. #06 Mark Martin
6. #11 Martin Truex Jr
7. #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr
8. #33 Tony Stewart
9. #20 Denny Hamlin
10. #26 Greg Biffle
16. #59 Marcos Ambrose

Raybestos Rookie of the Year Contenders Results
1. (16th) #59 Marcos Ambrose
2. (27th) #19 Kyle Krisiloff
3. (28th) #28 Robert Richardson Jr
4. (31st) #12 Sam Hornish Jr
5. (40th) #42 Juan Pablo Montoya
6. (43rd) #6 David Ragan

2007 NASCAR Busch Series Standings – After Race 1
1. Kevin Harvick 190
2. Dave Blaney 170
3. Carl Edwards 170
4. Clint Bowyer 165
5. Mark Martin 155
6. Martin Truex Jr 155
7. Dale Earnhardt Jr 151
8. Tony Stewart 142
9. Denny Hamlin 138
10. Greg Biffle 134
16. Marcos Ambrose 115

Let's keep on kicking arse marcos!

go aussie go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[harvick#1]

Montoya would've easily had Rookie honors if Ganassi crumy engines give way like they always do.

[call_me_andrew]

Montoya would've easily had Rookie honors if Ganassi crumy engines give way like they always do.

Doesn't Ganassi use Earnie Elliott engines?

[djarumdudley]

well now it's 2 for 2 as Harvick finally gets a Cup restrictor plate win as well.

[RCR29FAN]

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhooo oooooooooooooooooooo

Ditto that! Wow what a finish, almost exactly like Atlanta '01 with Happy and Jeffro in a photo finish. I'm really feeling good about Harv's chances at the Cup this year right now.

[harvick#1]

amazing the same day in 2001 we lost Dale, now 6 years later on the same day. The man that replaced Dale takes his most dramatic win as Stewarts crash looked very similar and scary as Dales crash.

Feb 18 the day RCR got back to Victory Lane the same day we lost the big man, I'm sure Dale is up there in heaven enjoying the win by Kevin Tonight :)

[RCR29FAN]

amazing the same day in 2001 we lost Dale, now 6 years later on the same day. The man that replaced Dale takes his most dramatic win as Stewarts crash looked very similar and scary as Dales crash.

Feb 18 the day RCR got back to Victory Lane the same day we lost the big man, I'm sure Dale is up there in heaven enjoying the win by Kevin Tonight :)

Nice observation harvick#1, although I try to think as little as possible about that day 6 yrs ago. But the numerology involved in Dales death is amazing. From the time Dale won the Daytona 500 in '98, it was exactly 3 years and 3 days till he died in the 3 car. And then didn't it rain for 3 races after that? There were other things to but I forget most of them.

It was weird about Tony's crash though too, good thing they now have all that extra safety equipment they didn't have back then or we might be mourning another loss today.