(workingonmyredneck file photo)
Marcos Ambrose, “The Tasmanian Devil”, finally broke through, at the Sprint Cup level, for his first career win in the rain-delayed Helluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen. However, the win was marred by a horrendously violent multi-car crash that erupted on the last lap of the race.
The Ambrose victory was the 15th different winner, and the fifth first time winner in the 2011 season!
Ambrose, who charged through the bus stop (inner loop) and powered past Keselowski to the inside, to take the lead prior to taking the white flag. The end of the race came when the yellow flag was thrown for a horrendous crash involving Boris Said, David Ragan, David Ruetimann, and several other drivers, as well. The most violent impact was David Ruetimann’s race car pummeling the wall, getting airborne, flipping, and impaling the remnants of the car on still another crash wall on the opposite side of the race track.
After Ambrose paraded around the track, he finally drove into Victory Lane thoroughly ecstatic from the win. “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, all at Watkins Glen, in 74 Nationwide starts.
This was the first victory for Richard Petty Motorsports since Kasey Kahne won at Infineon Raceway in June of 2009. Additionally, this was the first win by Ford at The Glen since Geoffrey Bodine won in 1996!
Ambrose became the third qualifier for the Sprint Summer Showdown, joining “Blazingly Bad” Brad 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.
Here is the unofficial results of the Helluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
