The man they called Kangaroo Meat finally did it! Launceston's Marcos Ambrose, a two-time V8 Supercar Champion, is now a race winner in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the peak of motor sport in North America, and one of the most competitive racing series in all the world. Finally, Australia has a Sprint Cup winner.
Australians have prospered throughout the motor sport world. From Casey Stoner to Alan Jones to David Brabham, some of our best drivers have won Formula One world titles, MotoGP crowns, the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans. Our pilots have won IndyCar races, sports car titles and more, but no one before Ambrose had managed to go to Victory Lane in a top-tier NASCAR event. Now, that streak is over, and the name Marcos Ambrose will go down in motorsport history. After three victories at Watkins Glen in the second-tier NASCAR Nationwide Series, he got it done in the big-time.
After more than a hundred starts and some notable heartbreaks, Ambrose finally made it to victory lane in the top series, driving his #9 Stanley Tools Ford Fusion for Richard Petty Motorsports to a memorable victory in a wild final two laps on the road course at Watkins Glen International in upstate New York. Ambrose spun his tires on the final restart and lost some ground, but made it up with a superb pass on Brad Keselowski, Ambrose driving his Fusion ahead of the #2 Dodge Charger on a green-white-chequered finish after a blown tire and subsequent fence contact to the #27 Chevrolet Impala of Brickyard 400 winner Paul Menard put the race on hold for a lengthy clean-up.
As Ambrose and Keselowski fought for the win, closely shadowed by superstar Kyle Busch (#18 Toyota Camry), mayhem broke out in the pack behind. Boris Said made an ill-advised move at the entrance to the uphill Esses, which tapped the #6 UPS ford of David Ragan, sending him sliding across the track, hard contact with the guard rail, then slamming into the #00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota of David Reutimann who ended a rough race upside down, his car completely totalled.
As if that wasn't enough, multi-time Watkins Glen winner and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart ended his race against the guard rail. Stewart, normally a man to be reckoned with on a road course, hardly figured the entire day. For so many, it was a crazy end to a strange day on one of only two road course events on the Sprint Cup calendar.
The incredible vision of the Ragan/Reutimann crash, Ambrose's win is below:
"I'm happy with what I've done. I've got to victory lane. I can go home knowing that I've won in the Sprint Cup series. It's a proud day for myself and my family," Ambrose said in Victory Lane, getting much-deserved kudos from many drivers for his maiden victory. "We make sacrifices every day to do what we do, and today is my little girl's first day at school. I want to take her to school but here we are racing at Watkins on Monday, she's probably still cranky at me but I think it's a good compromise to be here in victory lane."
A year ago, on another road course in Sonoma, California, Ambrose had been leading the race, and looked to have sewn up his maiden victory, but, in an effort to save fuel, he stalled his car under caution, having turned off the engine. He was unable to fire the engine in time through an uphill section of the race track, and lost the lead with a mere six laps to go, costing him the win.
The word choke was starting to creep into the back of my mind," Ambrose admitted. "We survived today, we fought our way back to the front. We had a late race restart - fought and gouged our way to the front and got the win - just a dream day. I'm very thankful for the opportunity I've got to be here, and that I made the most of it today. No one realises how much everyone puts in to get to victory lane, and when it happens it's such a surreal moment."
Congratulations, Marcos Ambrose, Australia's first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series winner. Let's get one on an oval now, mate!
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