Marcos Ambrose already looking forward to 2010 Cup season at JTG Daugherty Racing
JTG Daugherty Racing's Marcos Ambrose has four top-five finishes this season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. // Jim Fluharty, NASCAR Scene
FORT WORTH, Texas – Marcos Ambrose has enjoyed a strong run in his first full NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, and 2010 is already shaping up to be a continuation of his success.
Ambrose and JTG Daugherty Racing announced Friday at Texas Motor Speedway that McKee Foods, a family bakery best known for its Little Debbie Brand, will return as a part-time primary sponsor on Ambrose’s Toyota next season.
Little Debbie will serve as the primary sponsor on Ambrose’s No. 47 car for nine races, with Kingsford/Clorox and Bush's Baked Beans filling out the rest of the 36-race schedule, team co-owner Brad Daugherty said at TMS.
Daugherty said there are “great synergies with these companies.”
“We’ve managed to bring brand-new sponsors into the Cup series at a time when it’s a tough economy, teams are shrinking, teams are changing, downsizing,” Ambrose said. “We’re growing. We have got nothing but blue sky in front of us. I feel like I’m now in a position with my fourth season coming to a close in NASCAR, I feel like I’m ready. I can contend any week with the best. We’ve now just got to basically keep everything the same.
“We’ve got to get that continuity in play, I think, for us to really go to the next level. All we can do is eliminate mistakes when we find them and we’re getting better at eliminating our mistakes and finding new ones and our performance is getting better and better each week.”
Ambrose, who made his Cup debut with an 11-race slate last season, has surpassed many observers’ expectations in his first year in NASCAR’s top series. The former champion of Australia’s V8 Supercar road-racing series, has recorded four top-fives, seven top-10s and is 18th in the Cup standings.
Ambrose sees no reason why he can’t put together an even better campaign in 2010 when JTG Daugherty will continue its technical alliance with Michael Waltrip Racing in which the fellow Toyota team prepares Ambrose’s cars.
“We continue to grow, we continue to improve on the race track with our results. And I’m getting more confident,” Ambrose said. “I feel like we can really contend next year for race wins. I feel like I’m ready to make a challenge to try to make the top 12 in points. We’ve got a long journey ahead of us but I feel like we’re moving forward at a record rate in the Cup series and we’re excited to be doing it.”
Despite his success, Ambrose is still searching for his first Cup win. He has a career best Cup finish of second, which came on the road course at Watkins Glen International in August.
“It’s a tough road, not [every] step’s going to be forward,” Ambrose said. “You’re going to take some back but in general I think we’ve got a great thing going. We’ve got a great partnership with Michael Waltrip Racing, sponsors in play, money in play. We’re just ready to go and do it.”
