Marcos Ambrose becomes NASCAR's fifth first-time winner
By James Johnson, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle/USA TODAY
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. Marcos Ambrose came a long way to win his first Sprint Cup race.
A V8 Supercar champion in Australia who came to the USA five years ago, fought his way into Cup and became one of NASCAR's best road racers, Ambrose fittingly reached the high point of his journey Monday on the winding, 2.45-mile track at Watkins Glen International.
Ambrose drove his No. 9 Ford past Brad Keselowski after a restart on the penultimate lap of the rain-delayed Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen, becoming the fifth first-time winner this year in NASCAR's premier series.
The race ended under caution after a pair of last-lap crashes, including a violent wreck involving David Ragan and David Reutimann.
"I've traveled halfway around the world and dragged my wife and kids with me," said Ambrose, a winner in his 105th Cup start. "I kept telling them I was pretty good, but until you can win (in Cup) you can't really put that stamp on it."
In joining Ragan, Trevor Bayne, Regan Smith and Paul Menard as first-time winners in 2011, Ambrose also settled some old business.
A year ago at Infineon Raceway, Ambrose let a win slip away when he stalled his car under a caution while leading at the Sonoma, Calif., road course with six laps to go. "I know I've tripped over myself once or twice trying to get to victory lane," the Richard Petty Motorsports driver said.
"It's not that I was worried, but the word 'choke' was starting to creep into the back of my mind."
With the Chase for the Cup cutoff looming, second-place Keselowski was Monday's big winner. Keselowski moved up four spots to 14th in the points standings, increasing his chances of staying in the top 20. The two drivers with the most wins (Keselowski has two) in the 11th through 20th positions join the top 10 to make up the field for the 10-race championship drive.
Unless they can pocket a second win in the next four races, Ambrose (22nd) and Ragan (23rd) are Chase long shots. Denny Hamlin (12th, one win) holds the other wild card but made himself more vulnerable by crashing and finishing 36th.
Kyle Busch finished third Monday, tying Carl Edwards for the points lead. Busch led entering a green-white-checkered finish, brought about by a caution flag for Menard, but let Keselowski and Ambrose slip by in Turn 1. "I hated to see that caution," Busch said. "(I) knew it was going to come down to one corner, and I messed it up."
Ragan and Reutimann suffered crunching hits Monday in an area at Watkins Glen that didn't have SAFER barriers, only guardrails. "I've been to some dirt tracks that have better walls than that," Ragan said afterward.
Jeff Gordon, NASCAR's all-time wins leader on road courses, blasted the lack of softer walls. "You can't have walls like that, do you know what I mean?" Gordon said. "You're going to find those places eventually, so you've got to fix them."
The Jimmie Johnson-Kurt Busch feud from last week at Pocono Raceway didn't resurface; but another one did. Boris Said, subbing for Landon Cassill in the No. 51, called Biffle an "unprofessional little scaredy-cat" and accused him of dirty racing, then asked ESPN viewers to text message him Biffle's address. "I'll go see him Wednesday at his house and show him what he really needs," Said said. "He needs a friggin' whupping." On Twitter, Biffle responded by pointing out that Said caused the Reutimann-Ragan wreck: "Mr. Class pulls in behind my truck after the race today?! Shouldn't you go check on David & David? How unprofessional & disrespectful!"
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