Disappointing day for Ambrose

Marcos Ambrose, driver of the #9 Stanley Ford, and Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, lead the field to start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma on June 24, 2012 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)
Marcos Ambrose, driver of the #9 Stanley Ford, and Jeff Gordon, driver of the #24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, lead the field to start of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma on June 24, 2012 in Sonoma, California. (Photo by Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR)

SONOMA, Calif. — Marcos Ambrose’s roller-coaster weekend ended on a frustrating note. After winning the pole in Friday’s time trials, Ambrose didn’t have the handling or pace he needed in Sunday’s race.

Arguably the most talented road racer in the Cup series, Ambrose led the first 11 laps but fell back through the field after Jeff Gordon passed him for the top spot.

“We really missed it,” said Ambrose, who rallied to finish eighth but was bitterly disappointed with his run. “We missed it bad, and we did good to recover and get a top-10 out of it. We’ll take it and move on.

“We got the pole and had a lot of speed. We just missed it for the race. We were slow. It was just terrible. We had no speed in the car, and we paid the price.”

Greg Engle
About Greg Engle 7421 Articles
Greg is a published award winning sportswriter who spent 23 years combined active and active reserve military service, much of that in and around the Special Operations community. Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.