There were several drivers who couldn’t wait to see the flag drop at Homestead-Miami Speedway ending the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. For some drivers it was a long season and they were ready for a fresh start in the 2014 season.
Among those drivers was Australian Marcos Ambrose whose 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season was one he and his team would like to forget.
Ambrose only recorded six top ten finishes in the 2013 season and had a best finish of sixth which came at Michigan in August. Ambrose’s season was his worst of his three year stint at Richard Petty Motorsports, finishing 22nd in the points and not winning a race in the process.
Even at the road course tracks Ambrose struggled. Widely considered by many as one of the best road course racers in NASCAR, Ambrose struggled. He finished seventh at Sonoma in June after getting shuffled out of the lead due to pit strategy and his car was not as good later in the race as it was earlier. The same could be said for his day at Watkins Glen in August. He sat on the pole but was again near the back end of the field and got involved into an accident later on in the event. The dominance of the road course events shown by Ambrose the past few seasons was not anywhere to be found in 2013.
At the other tracks on the schedule Ambrose had a disappointing year. He and crew chief Drew Blickensderfer never seemed to click on anything throughout the season and the #9 Ford just never had a great run throughout the season on the oval tracks. Ambrose’s season was extremely disappointing considering the progress the team has made over his first two seasons with the organization.
It will be interesting to see how much patience Richard Petty Motorsports has with the #9 Ford in 2014. Blickensderfer’s tenure with Ambrose has not produced the numbers that everyone expected. However, the team has gotten a break because of several different factors. All the Ford teams seemed to be a little off in 2013. Whether it was horsepower, chassis information or just the car in general the Ford teams were just a step behind the rest of the field. Also the team has an alliance with Roush Fenway Racing, another organization that struggled during the season.
The team also had a setback when Todd Parrott, crew chief for Ambrose’s teammate Aric Almirola, was suspended indefinitely for violating NASCAR’s substance abuse policy. While the incident didn’t affect Ambrose’s team directly, there was still a bit of distraction that came with the situation and losing Parrott’s veteran presence on the the car set ups didn’t help the team either.
Ambrose’s 2013 season has made his 2014 season that much important. While the sponsors seem happy with Ambrose, eventually a shakeup may be needed to get that team back to the form they were in during the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
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