If at first you don't succeed try, try, try again.
For Marcos Ambrose that's what he's been doing in at road course races since he entered the Sprint Cup Series. As one of the best road racers in the sport, Ambrose is always one of the favorites when the series makes left and right turns either in Sonoma or Watkins Glen. This past year Ambrose was again near the front of the field and looking for his first career win as the laps wound down in the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma.
With less than 10 laps to go Ambrose had the lead and was driving away from the field when the caution came out. Crew chief Frank Kerr told Ambrose to save fuel, just in case more cautions came out over the final laps and a green/white/checkered finish came into play. Ambrose decided to shut his car off and coast around the track.
When he started to go up the hill in turn one however, the car failed to re-fire and he was passed by second place Jimmie Johnson and about seven other drivers. NASCAR ruled that Ambrose had to restart behind all the drivers that passed him as his car sat idol on the track. Johnson moved into the lead and went on to win the race. Ambrose restarted seventh and ended up finishing sixth.
But ...
What If Marcos Ambrose didn't shut car off @ Sonoma under final caution. Would Jimmie Johnson have beaten him for 1st road course win?
@Talon64 Another late choke like Montreal might've still been possible without the stall, but I think Ambrose would've held on to win.
@cruettten i don't think so; but then again, i never thought JJ would win five Championships either. from what i remember, Ambrose was in a pretty good rhythm, and i didn't think anyone was going to catch him that day.
@garrettu88 no, Marcos had the car to beat all day
@alpinedigital Johnson is a closer, you know that!!
@ShaneMCarroll that's an excellent question. Personally I don't think so, and it would have given Denny an even bigger lead going into HMS.
ronsracing88 I doubt it; Macros seemed to have everyone covered that day.
No comments:
Post a Comment