Marcos Ambrose celebrates his first career Sprint Cup victory in Monday's rain delayed event at Watkins Glen. Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR
Marcos Ambrose passed Brad Keselowski on the first lap of a green-white-checkered-flag finish at Watkins Glen and won Monday’s rain-delayed Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen under caution when a violent multicar wreck exploded behind him on the final circuit.
Ambrose, who charged through the bus stop (inner loop) and powered past Keselowski to the inside, became the fifth first-time winner in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series this year.
Keselowski was second when the yellow flag froze the field. Kyle Busch, who lost the lead on the final restart on lap 91 of 92, came home third, followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano.
The race ending caution flew when Boris Said made contact with David Ragan going into the esses, sending Ragan’s car out of control. Ragan made hard contact with both the inside and outside guardrail, collecting David Reutimann in the process. Reutimann’s car took a wild side over side tumble, coming to rest on its top.
The remains of David Reutimann's Toyota after a hard crash that was triggered when Boris Said made contact with David Ragan on the last lap of Monday's event. No one was injured in the melee. Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images for NASCAR
Both Ragan and Reutimann escaped serious injury, climbing out of their destroyed machines under their own power. The crash left the track littered with debris.
Kevin Harvick, Juan Pablo Montoya, AJ Allmendinger, Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson completed the top 10.
“I’ve fought so much to get here, to finally win and be here in victory lane is a dream come true,” said Ambrose, who made the most of his vaunted road-racing skills on Monday. “I flew the kids home (Sunday, when the race was postponed)—it was their first day of school—and this kind of makes up for it.
“To win in the Cup series is an incredible feeling, and I’m very, very proud.”
Ambrose, 34, who moved his family from Australia to pursue a career in NASCAR, was making his 105th Cup start. He has three wins in 74 Nationwide starts, all at Watkins Glen.
The victory also was Richard Petty Motorsports’ first since Kasey Kahne won on the road course of Infineon Raceway in 2009. It was Ford’s first win at the Glen since 1996 when Geoffrey Bodine scored the victory.
Ambrose became the third qualifier for the Sprint Summer Showdown, joining Keselowski and Paul Menard. Those three drivers, plus the winners from upcoming races at Michigan and Bristol, will compete for an aggregate $3 million bonus, should one of the eligible drivers win Sept. 4 at Atlanta.
After restarting fourth on lap 70, Ambrose dispatched Truex for third place on lap 73 and outbraked Keselowski into turn 1 for the second spot on lap 76. From that point Ambrose trimmed Busch’s lead from more than two seconds to two car-lengths before Paul Menards’s fiery wreck on lap 86 caused the fourth caution of the race.
“I was trying to pass the 18 (Busch) before the caution came out and really used my stuff up,” Ambrose said. “I didn’t want to start on the outside (on the final restart), so I actually gave up the start trying to get to the inside, but when I realized that wasn’t going to work, I just turned up into turn 1 and tried to make something happen.
“I spoke to Brad Keselowski last night. We had a chat for about a half-hour, just shooting the breeze and talking about how hard it is to get to victory lane—and there I was racing him for the win. I’m pleased we did it clean, but I was going to get to victory lane. I wasn’t going to let that 2 (Keselowski) beat me to the checkered flag.”
Kurt Busch, who entered the race fourth in the Cup standings, had a rough afternoon. After spinning in the inner loop on Lap 4 and losing a lap, Busch knocked Allmendinger out of the lead and off the racetrack on Lap 9.
Busch’s frustrating day came to an end on lap 49, when a brake failure sent him hard into the tire barrier in turn 5.
“I had a big problem getting into the braking zones today—just rear brakes locking up,” Busch said after the crash. I had to crank eight rounds of front brake into our (car) just to survive. All that does is generate brake heat, and I blew out the left-front tire.
“It was a bummer of a day and not anything that we expected. It must have been something with the brake package. Whatever Keselowski found at Road Atlanta (during his Aug. 3 testing accident), I had a problem with today.”
As hard as Busch’s wreck was, it paled in comparison to the hit Denny Hamlin took in Turn 1 when his brakes failed on lap 65. Hamlin rocketed into the wall, destroying the front of his No. 11 Toyota.
“Something blew out in the left front,” Hamlin said after being released from the infield care center. “When it did, it must have cut a brake line, so I had no brakes. I was trying to do everything I could to weave or anything I could to get the speed down in the car.
“There was just nothing you could do. The front tires locked up, and you can’t steer.”
Hamlin finished 36th and fell to 12th in the standings, 33 points behind 10th-place Tony Stewart, who lost a spot to Dale Earnhardt Jr. (15th Monday). Clint Bowyer finished 11th and moved past Hamlin into 11th, 25 points behind Stewart.
Story by Reid Spencer
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Watkins Glen International Raceway – Watkins Glen, NY
Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen – Aug. 15, 2011
Pos No. Driver, car
1. 9. Marcos Ambrose, Ford
2. 2. Brad Keselowski, Dodge
3. 18. Kyle Busch, Toyota
4. 56. Martin Truex Jr., Toyota
5. 20. Joey Logano, Toyota
6. 29. Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet
7. 42. Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet
8. 43. A.J. Allmendinger, Ford
9. 31. Jeff Burton, Chevrolet
10. 48. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet
11. 24. Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet
12. 33. Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet
13. 99. Carl Edwards, Ford
14. 88. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet
15. 83. Brian Vickers, Toyota
16. 39. Ryan Newman, Chevrolet
17. 17. Matt Kenseth, Ford
18. 1. Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet
19. 47. Bobby Labonte, Toyota
20. 51. Boris Said, Chevrolet
21. 7. Robby Gordon, Dodge
22. 13. Casey Mears, Toyota
23. 78. Regan Smith, Chevrolet
24. 71. Andy Lally, Ford
25. 5. Mark Martin, Chevrolet
26. 4. Kasey Kahne, Toyota
27. 14. Tony Stewart, Chevrolet
28. 6. David Ragan, Ford
29. 00. David Reutimann, Toyota
30. 36. Ron Fellows, Chevrolet
31. 16. Greg Biffle, Ford
32. 27. Paul Menard, Chevrolet
33. 34. David Gilliland, Ford
34. 38. Terry Labonte, Ford
35. 32. Andrew Ranger, Ford
36. 11. Denny Hamlin, Toyota
37. 50. T.J. Bell, Chevrolet
38. 22. Kurt Busch, Dodge
39. 37. Scott Speed, Ford
40. 87. Joe Nemechek, Toyota
41. 66. Michael McDowell, Toyota
42. 55. J.J. Yeley, Ford
43. 60. Mike Skinner, Toyota
