NNS: Ambrose Wins Again

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NNS: Ambrose Wins Again

Marcos Ambrose won on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course...

Tom Jensen | Posted August 20, 2011 Montreal (CAN)

Marcos Ambrose captured the NAPA Auto Parts 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal on Saturday afternoon, earning another road-course victory to go with Monday’s Sprint Cup triumph at Watkins Glen.

Ambrose, the two-time Australian V8 Supercar champion, dominated late after starting the race in the back of the field to win a caution-filled and frankly sloppy race. It was his fourth career NNS victory in 75 series starts. Ambrose won over Canadian Alex Tagliani, Michael McDowell, Steve Wallace and J.R. Fitzpatrick.

The second five consisted of Scott Speed, Carl Edwards , Justin Allgaier, Jason Leffler and Elliott Sadler.

Driving a Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, Ambrose tore through the field and showed why he’s regarded by many as NASCAR’s best road racer.

“Two in two weeks is just awesome,” said Ambrose, who in four prior Montreal starts had led about half the laps he raced, but hadn’t won. “I can’t thank these guys enough for the opportunity. I’ve been trying to win up here for so long. The race went my way. This year, I didn’t lead as many laps, but I definitely won the most important one, that was the last one.”

Canadians Jacques Villeneuve and Tagliani started on the front row in their Penske Racing Dodges, with Jason Leffler slotting between them on the opening lap.

Fuel-mileage played a critical role from the start: Carl Edwards, who started at the back of the field, pitted after just one lap, while Tagliani stopped on Lap 3 and Ambrose came in on Lap 6. One lap afterwards, it was Villeneuve who came in, yielding the lead to Leffler, with Scott Speed second. Speed then took the lead once Leffler came in.

Maryeve Dufault brought out a full-course caution on Lap 16 when she spun and blocked a corner, then attempted to turn around on track, only to get clipped by an onrushing Trevor Bayne. A round of pit stops under caution put Villeneuve and Tagliani back out front on the restart.

Villeneuve held the lead at the one-third distance, but by then Ambrose was all the way up to second after starting in the back of the field. On Lap 32, Villeneuve pitted a second time, turning the lead over to Robby Gordon for the first time on the day.

Gordon ran out of gas and coasted into the pits four laps later, returning Villeneuve and Ambrose to the top two positions.

But Villeneuve’s luck ran out on Lap 45, when Ambrose jumped him for the lead on a restart. Villeneuve ran wide and went off in Turn 1, only to cut back onto the track and into Ambrose. Furious at getting hit by Villeneuve, Ambrose dumped the No. 22 Dodge later in the lap and that was it for Villeneuve’s victory hopes.

“A bit of a bonehead move,” Ambrose said of Villeneuve’s ill-fated off-course excursion. “I don’t know what he was thinking. He got along side of me in Turn 1, I held my line and he must of just lost talent across the grass or something and ran into us.”

The brief scrum put Canadians Ron Fellows, Tagliani and Patrick Carpentier in the top three spots. On Lap 47, Tagliani went past Fellows to take his first lead of the day.

Gordon recovered from his disastrous pit stop and was in second place by Lap 50, as he began to pressure Tagliani for the lead.

Boris Said went off in Turn 13 to bring out a full-course yellow on Lap 52, which sent most of the field down pit road. Fellows, Michael McDowell and Michael Annett led a group of six drivers who stayed out, taking over the top three positions.

Marcos Ambrose celebrates winning the NAPA Auto Parts 200 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. (Photo: Getty Images)

On the restart, McDowell went into Turn 1 leading, but got nerfed out of the way by Fellows, who retook the point.

Then, Alex Kennedy went off in Turn 8, bringing out another caution, just seconds after Steve Wallace spun Patrick Carpentier out. Fellows held the lead on the restart, but then Tagliani muscled past and went out front.

With 15 to go, Fellows ducked into the pits for his last pit stop, as Tagliani led McDowell. But the man on the move was Ambrose, who restarted 14th, and was all the way up to third place within just a couple of laps.

The fifth caution came out with 13 laps to go, just as Ambrose was attempting to pass McDowell for second.

Ambrose took the lead on the restart, outdueling Tagliani. Then it was Robby Gordon’s to crash and bring out a yellow and setting up a final run to the checkered flag.

From there, Ambrose made easy work of it, winning his second race in six days.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

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Tom Jensen

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