Marcos Ambrose heads to the famed superspeedway in Talladega, Ala., looking to be in the right place at the right time. The 2.66-mile track is always a crapshoot, but Ambrose and the No. 9 DEWALT team will look to avoid “The Big One” and come home with their second win of the season.
Talladega Superspeedway is known to produce some of the most exciting racing action on the circuit, but it is also known to produce some of the largest wrecks. It will be important for Ambrose to find good drafting partners and position himself out of harm’s way throughout the race if he wants to end up in Victory Lane at the end of the day.
Ambrose will be making his eighth career start at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend. The Australian native’s best start (third) at the Alabama track came earlier this season and his best finish (fourth) came in the 2009. Ambrose sits in 17th place in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings heading into this weekend’s 500-mile 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 racing at Talladega Superspeedway.
Ambrose on Racing at Talladega: “Talladega is a really cool track to race on, it’s got so much history associated with it. It’s the biggest and fastest track we go to all season, and it’s a race that’s completely unpredictable. Anything can happen at these superspeedway races, we’ve just got to be in the right place at the right time and stay out of trouble. I’ve worked well with Aric (Almirola) at superspeedways in the past and I’m planning to work with him again this weekend. He’s been a great drafting partner and doesn’t push the envelope too much. If we can stay hooked up all weekend I think we’ve got a good shot to be up front at the end of the day.”
Comments from Crew Chief Mike Ford on Going to Talladega: “We’re going to need to have a lot of luck and a lot off horsepower at Talladega. The track itself doesn’t typically pose any handling problems. The biggest challenge we will face all weekend is negotiating the draft. We need to make sure we position ourselves in the right place at the right time. We will see a lot of big pack racing and big pack racing produces big wrecks. You need ‘Lady Luck’ to be on your side when you race at Talladega, but you’ve got try and make your own luck as well. It’s all about being able to work with the drivers around you. If Marcos can find good people to work with and put himself in position to make good runs, we’ll be in good shape.
“Pitting at Talladega can pose a challenge. If we have to pit under green-flag conditions, we will need to make sure we’ve got partners to pit with so we don’t lose the draft. There is not much tire wear at Talladega so we will be able to make a lot of two-tire stops. It’s going to be really important that we execute solid stops and spend the least amount of time on pit road as possible this weekend.”
RPM PR
- FRIDAY FEATURE – Mike Greci: Veteran Presence - March 29, 2013
- Video: Danica Patrick wrecks out at Phoenix - March 3, 2013
- Danica Patrick Phoenix Accident Quotes - March 3, 2013