Marcus Ambrose has been voted as the Australian Driver of the Year by readers of Australian weekly magazine
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Ambrose, who finished eighth in this year's NASCAR Busch Series and was second-best rookie, topped the poll with 37 per cent of the vote ahead of Team Australia Champ Car driver Will Power and fellow US-based Australian Ryan Briscoe of Penske Racing, who raced in the American Le Mans Series and Indianapolis 500 this year.
The former V8 Supercar champion is the first Australian to race full-time in NASCAR and the first non-North American driver to finish in the top ten in any of NASCAR's three national championship divisions.
"It's great to pick up an award like this one, especially because it is the fans that have cast their votes," he said. "When I announced I was leaving V8 Supercars to try and forge a career in NASCAR one thing I was very conscious of was not to leave my fans behind. I wanted them to be a part of my journey in the US as much as possible.
"To have Australian motorsport fans vote me as the winner of this award is a very special feeling. I owe a lot to all the Australian fans that have stuck by my and followed my racing in NASCAR.
"We have really been working at educating Australian fans about NASCAR and helped them to learn more about the racing. It has been exciting to teach all of my Australian fans about NASCAR and what a great sport it truly is.
"Our tour group came over in May and saw it all close up in Charlotte and the Aussie fans have been able to watch the racing on television this year, so the response to NASCAR in Australia has been really, really great and next year should be even better again."
![Marcos Ambrose - Kingsford Charcoal/Wood Bros Ford [pic credit: BAM media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/292511.jpg)
