Team Australia NASCAR Truck driver Marcos Ambrose will be looking for a strong short track finish at Bristol Motor Speedway this Wednesday at what is a significant venue for the Australian NASCAR rookie.

In 2003 Ambrose, who was on his way to winning his first of two Australian V8 Supercar Championships at the time, visited Bristol to watch NASCAR action at the spectacular short track. While at Bristol he met with representatives from Ford Racing, as well as Eddie and Len Wood of Wood Brothers Racing.

Three years on Ambrose now drives the Team Australia Ford F-150 for the Wood Brothers/JTG Racing operation in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. On this occasion Ambrose comes to Bristol buoyed after his second third place finish of the year at Nashville, a result that lifted him to fourth in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year standings despite missing the first three rounds of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

While Ambrose has quickly come up to speed on the faster speedways in the Aussie Vineyards/Aussie Experience F-150, the short tracks have not been as kind so far for the Australian.

Ambrose is confident that the Team Australia Ford F-150 will make a step up in short track form at the fast and tight Bristol Motor Speedway, the venue that proved a catalyst in Ambrose’s switch to NASCAR for 2006.

After a strong run at the short O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, where Ambrose was set for a solid result before being involved in someone else’s incident in the latter stages, the Team Australia driver is aiming for a top 10 result at Bristol.

WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY …

Marcos Ambrose – #20 Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards/Aussie Experience Ford F-150

“The track at Bristol is pretty intimidating," said Ambrose.

"I came here as a spectator three years ago. It's very daunting, very difficult. At the same time, I'm really eager to give it a go. I know there's going to be a lot of contact during the race. Hopefully we can stay out of most of it.

"It's no secret we've had some trouble on the short tracks. We've had good trucks there, but we seem to get in a lot of trouble there - most of it not of our own doing.

"There are no goals other than top 10. I want to get in some laps, continue to learn and be aggressive in the banking. We need a top 10 finish on a short track.

"That's the next step in our learning process. We finished on the lead lap in our last short track race (at Indianapolis), so now we need to build on that. The next step in a top 10 finish."

"We've come a long way this year. But as a driver, it's never good enough until you win. It's been great to get some good finishes, but there's still so much to learn. The learning curve is still steep, but it's not as steep as it was earlier this year."

2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Points – After Round 16
– Marcos Ambrose did not compete in the first three rounds of the championship.

1: Todd Bodine 2454; 2: Johnny Benson 2310; 3: David Reutimann 2260; 4: Ted Musgrave 2215; 5: Rick Crawford 22199; 6: Jack Sprague 2152; 7: Terry Cook 2148; 8: David Starr 2140; 9: Ron Hornaday Jr 2139; 10: Dennis Setzer 2139; 26: Marcos Ambrose 1249.

2006 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Raybestos Rookie of the Year Points – After Round 16
– Marcos Ambrose did not compete in the first three rounds of the championship.

1: Erik Darnell 153, 2: Chad McCumbee 127, 3: Aric Almirola 115, 4: Marcos Ambrose 90, 5: Boston Reid 88, 6: Joey Miller 87, 7: Bobby East 85, 9: Erin Crocker 75, 10: Kerry Earnhardt 71.

MARCOS AMBROSE FAST FACTS
– Ambrose has earned $155,813 in 13 starts this year
– Born in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
– Ambrose won two consecutive V8 Supercar Series Championships in Australia in 2003 and 2004 for Ford
– Drives the No. 20 Ford F-150 for Wood Brothers/JTG Racing in 2006
– Achieved his best result when he finished third at Kansas Speedway on July 1 in only his ninth NASCAR event. Also finished third in Round 16 in Nashville, his 13th NASCAR event
– Ambrose is one of only two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year contenders to score a top three finish this season
– Ambrose is the first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year candidate to earn two top five finishes so far this season
– Became the first Australian to lead laps in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
– Is the first non-American driver to finish in the top five of a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event since Canadian Ron Fellows won on the Watkins Glen road course on 26 June 1999
– Ambrose won his first Budweiser Pole in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Kentucky Speedway on July 8
– Ambrose is the first non-Amercian driver to win a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series pole since 26 June 1999 when Ron Fellows of Canada qualified first at Watkins Glen International.
– This was the first pole for the Wood Brothers/JTG Racing team and the first pole for crew chief Gary Cogswell.
– Ambrose has now qualified in the top 10 for five of his 13 NASCAR starts to date

TIPS FOR AUSTRALIAN FANS
There are several websites relating to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series where you can follow Ambrose’s progress.

The best three we have discovered so far are the official NASCAR.com site, truckseries.com and woodbrothersracing.com

You can register for Track Pass on the NASCAR site, which will give you access to radio broadcasts, in-car audio and video of most races for a fee, but you will need a US credit card (so ring a mate!)

You can get a free lap-by-lap written commentary of the races on truckseries.com by going to the trackside area of the site. There are also pre and post race audio interviews.

There are two other websites that have radio coverage of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races, www.wysham.com and www.radiocoloradonetwork.com

RACE SCHEDULE
Practice 1
Wed., August 23, 2006
11:00am – 12:00pm ET
Rookie Practice
Wed., August 23, 2006
12:30pm – 1:00pm ET
Final Practice
Wed., August 23, 2006
1:00pm – 2:00pm ET
Qualifying
Wed., August 23, 2006
5:30pm ET
Race – 150 laps
Wed., August 23, 2006
9:15pm ET

AUSTRALIAN TIMES
Practice 1
Thursday, August 23, 2006
1:00am – 2:00am EST
Rookie Practice
Thursday, August 23, 2006
2:30am – 3:00am EST
Final Practice
Thursday, August 23, 2006
3:00am – 4:00am EST
Qualifying
Thursday, August 23, 2006
7:30am EST
Race – 200 laps
Thursday, August 23, 2006
11:15am EST

ABOUT BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Location: Bristol, Tennessee
Race Distance: 200 laps = 106.6 miles! (171.556km)
Track Length: 0.533 miles
Degree of Banking in Turns: 36 degrees
Degree of Banking on Straights: 16 degrees

CRAFTSMAN TRUCK RECORD BOOK
Race Record: Travis Kvapil, 2003 (88.813mph/1hr, 12mins, 1 sec)
Qualifying Record: Ken Schrader, 2004 (126.922mph/15.118secs)
Defending Champion: Mike Skinner
Defending Polesitter: David Reutimann

Awesome. This track is insane - true NASCAR style.

Probably fair to say that Marcos has been struggling to set the truck up for traffic conditions... well i guess this is the ultimate place to learn

Bristol was always a favourite of mine back in the days of playing Nascar games Looks freakin awesome under lights

bit off topic but on rpm on the w/end Leigh Diffey caught up with ambrose and they went to the wood brothers factory. thats a real eye opener that is. absolutely spotless inside and home to over 60 cars/trucks. I've been around djr workshop and sbr workshop and they would both fit inside this place. if anyone else saw it they'll know what i mean. very impressive. they also showed the inside of the f150 ambrose drives. looked very scary. can't see much at all except straight ahead out the windscreen and a small left hand mirror and rather largeish mirror on windscreen. rely heavily on 'spotters' who tell drivers whats happening around them.

good stuff.

Love Bristol!!! "Rubbin's Racin'"!!!