Rising NASCAR star Marcos Ambrose will face a new challenge in 2007, after switching to drive the Woods Brothers/JTG Racing’s #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion in the NASCAR Busch series.
Tasmanian-born Ambrose joined the NASCAR ranks this season after a successful V8 Supercar career in Australia where he won two championships for Ford. He had not driven an oval race before his NASCAR Craftsman Truck debut at Martinsville in April, but since then he has finished with two third-place finishes at Kansas and Nashville, and a pole position in Kentucky.
He was also the WIX Filters ‘Lap Leader’ at Kentucky and currently sits fourth in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings, despite missing the first three rounds of the championship.
The 26th season of Busch Series competition begins on 17 February at
Daytona International Speedway, taking in 26 events including two international stops and ending precisely nine months later at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.
Q:
Marcos, great news that you have signed the deal for next year’s Busch Series with Wood Brothers/JTG Racing.
Marcos Ambrose:
It’s great news and I’m really excited about it. I really had to take my time, learn the hard lessons early on and build up for it.
Q:
What will it mean to step up to Busch next year?
MA:
It’s a huge change. The schedule is much more hectic and rewarding. The competition is much tougher with a lot of Nextel Cup regulars running, so it’s definitely a step up in performance. There is a lot more work to do within the team, the workload is much higher and the prestige is much greater.
Q:
What happens with your team at the moment? Does the whole team step up or do you have to form a relationship with a whole new bunch of guys?
MA:
Our whole team in going through a huge shake-up right now. The guys I’ve got with me may not come, but we may pick up one or two from the bunch that we have. One of the tough things here is that a lot of the crew chiefs and mechanics in the Truck Series are in there because they don’t want to run a full schedule and the people we’ve got in the Busch Series right now don’t want to leave it. I’ve got my eyes on a couple of guys that I’d like to bring with me because I know them well and we’ve got a rapport, but right now we haven’t really discussed the finer details.
Q:
Marcos, are you going to get the chance to get a ride in the Nextel Cup at any stage next year?
MA:
Don’t rule anything out of the equation, but the big news right now is that we’ve got a Busch deal confirmed with Busch sponsorship in place already. It’s a long-standing relationship in place with ST Motorsports and Kingsford Charcoal for the #59 Ford. We’ve made huge inroads now and we’ve got a genuine American sponsor behind an international driver, so I think that’s big news right at the moment.
