Ambrose’s Long Journey Punctuated by Watkins Glen Victory

Ambrose finally found victory lane, concluding the postponed Heluva Good Dips at The Glen at Watkins Glen International on Monday afternoon.

Expectations weren’t high when Ambrose first made the jump from Australian V8 Supercars to the NASCAR Truck Series. In hindsight, expectations probably should have been higher.

The V8 Supercar is a touring car that’s essentially stock in nature, which gave Ambrose a considerable advantage over the other international exports, including Juan Pablo Montoya, Max Papis and Jacques Villeneuve.

The 2003 and 2004 V8ASC Champion has been hailed as one of that Series’ greatest stars and is the only driver to win a race in every season in which he has competed. This made his 2005 decision to do NASCAR an even greater risk, jumping from his comfort zone at age 28 to attempt to transcend his own sport and become something greater...a NASCAR race winner.

He accomplished that goal in August of 2008 at a Nationwide Series race at Watkins Glen but vowed he wouldn’t rest until he made his mark in North America’s most elite series - the Sprint Cup.

There were several bumps along the way with numerous near-wins at The Glen and Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. Meanwhile, Ambrose redefined himself as a NASCAR driver, becoming a serious oval contender in 2009 with JTG Racing having secured full-time funding with a Toyota/Michael Waltrip Racing partnership.

And who can forget Ambrose’s Sonoma gaffe in 2010? Referencing the same race where, while leading under caution, Ambrose shut off his engine in the closing laps to conserve fuel and couldn’t regain power until he had fallen to seventh. That’s a race Ambrose should have won but did not.

This mirrors Monday’s race where Ambrose shouldn’t have won but he did. The Tasmanian was off the leaders’ pit cycle on several occasions but continued to get through the pack almost at will. Just as it seemed Ambrose was set to pass a race-dominant Kyle Busch with five laps to go, a caution and subsequent restart put Ambrose at a disadvantage on the outside of turn one.

A persistent Brad Keselowski passed Ambrose on the last restart and heckled Busch into a mistake just long enough for Ambrose to get past both drivers in one of the more exciting Overdrive finishes in recent memory - three different leaders over the last lap and a half.

Ambrose spun his tires on the restart and Keselowski forced Busch into locking-up off turn one. Ambrose chased Keselowski down into the bus stop and out-braked him going through the long straight to take the lead.

When David Ragan and David Reutimann set off a final lap “big one” the caution was dropped and Marcos Ambrose’s six-year NASCAR journey was joined - he became a Sprint Cup Series race winner.

Ambrose is the definition of grace and class in an era defined by the “Have at It Boys”. He thanked his family, fans, and new boss Richard Petty in Victory Lane and meant every word.

Ambrose accomplished his ambition of winning a Sprint Cup Series race but the journey is far from over. With Monday’s win, the Tasmanian moved into 23^rd in the championship standings and is starting to build momentum towards the Chase for the Championship.

It’s unlikely the playoffs will feature Ambrose but the foundation of a championship run could be placed with 15 races remaining. Richard Petty Motorsports has the pedigree, they have Ford’s backing and they now have a Sprint Cup Series race winner.

In today’s parity-ridden NASCAR, a championship might not be that far out of the question.