With a newly paved racing surface that is sure to see blistering fast lap times, Marcos Ambrose and the No. 9 Stanley team will have their work cut out for them at Michigan International Speedway this weekend. Ambrose will look to bring home his first top-10 finish at the two-mile track in the Quicken Loans 400, as he will make his eighth career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start at Michigan on Sunday.
The Australian native’s best finish (15) at Michigan International Speedway came in 2010 and his best start (16) came in 2011. He has completed 1,217 of 1,403 laps attempted at the two-mile track. Ambrose enters this weekend’s 400-mile race in 17th-place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings.
In addition to this weekend’s normal racing activities, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams will have an extra day of testing at Michigan on Thursday. Michigan International Speedway was recently repaved and the additional track time will allow driver’s and teams to assess the new racing surface ahead of Sunday’s 200-lap race.
Don’t forget to tune into Sirius XM Radio on Channel 90, Friday, at 10 a.m. ET for the Morning Drive with Pete Pistone and Mike Bagley to listen to Marcos talk about Michigan testing and Sunday’s upcoming race.
Ambrose’s car will have a different look this weekend as Stanley will return as the primary partner of the No. 9 Ford Fusion.
Marcos Ambrose’s Thoughts on Racing at Michigan:
“Michigan has a brand new coat of asphalt and I think it’s going to be even crazier than Pocono was last week. We’ve got some extra room to move around here so things can get interesting. We are going to carry a ton of speed at Michigan. We’ve heard from other drivers when they went up there to test it was really fast.
“I think the fans are going to be in for another treat this weekend because of the unknown factor. Who knows what Michigan is actually going to race like once we get 43 cars out there at the same time? It’s going to be interesting to see how things shake out at the end of the weekend. We just know it’s going to be fast.
“My Stanley race team has been working long hours to get my cars ready with all of the testing we have done the last month and I can’t thank them enough for everything they do. Hopefully this weekend all of that hard work and dedication will pay off at Michigan.”
Comments from Crew Chief Todd Parrott on Going to Michigan:
“With the newly paved surface it will be interesting to see how the track races when we unload for testing on Thursday. In the past we have had to have a car that has good downforce and a lot of horsepower. I suspect it will be much the same this year. The Stanley Ford will have to turn well in the center of the corners and will need to have good drive off the turns too.
“Michigan is a fun place to race. I imagine with the new asphalt it will make it even more exciting. The track is wide, so that allows for a lot of two and three-wide racing in the corners, which makes the racing very entertaining for the fans. We’re heading into this weekend with high expectations and at the end of the day we want to see that Stanley Ford Fusion in Victory Lane.”
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