MOTORSPORT: Ambrose quitting NASCAR team, may be coming home

Speculation of new opportunity with "King Richard" Petty's team
Dual V8 Supercar champion Marcos Ambrose's five-year career in America's NASCAR may be coming to an end.

Ambrose is quitting the JTG Daugherty team at the end of the season and, if another NASCAR drive doesn't eventuate, he could return to Australia.

There is speculation of a deal being close for him to join Richard Petty Motorsports -- and driving a Ford again. However, 33-year-old Ambrose -- a disappointing 27th in the Sprint Cup this year after a creditable 18th in his first full season in the top league last year -- is adamant nothing is signed with the Petty team.

He says he's taking a week to 10 days to think things over and that he has "not discounted returning to Australia" -- which would give him the chance to win not only more V8 Supercar championships but chase the Bathurst 1000 victory that eluded him in his five years in the country's major racing category.

While Stone Brothers Racing would welcome its 2003 and '04 V8 Supercar champion back, team boss Ross Stone has said he expects Ambrose to stay in America.

"I don't reckon there's any chance," Stone told Australian Associated Press last night. "He's got a little bit of unfinished business and I think he's ready to kick on there and finish off what he started."

While Richard Petty Motorsports bears the name of NASCAR's most successful driver: the man known as "The King" and the winner of a record 200 NASCAR premier division races, see here. Petty is now 73 and has little involvement in the operation.

It is owned by business tycoon George N. Gillett Junior, also in his 70s and who bought a team from Ray Evernham in October 2007 and later merged it with the Petty team that had faded since The King's retirement from driving.

While Petty was synonymous with Dodge in his racing days, this team runs Fords -- which is seen as the link for Ambrose.

Although the Tasmanian has driven Toyotas in the Sprint Cup, his roots are with Ford -- to which he was contracted in Australia for his five years in V8 Supercars, and the Blue Oval aided his move to NASCAR and he drove Fords for his first three years in the US.

Richard Petty Motorsports has four Sprint Cup drivers -- Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne, A.J. Allmendinger and Paul Menard -- and Ambrose is seen as a potential replacement -- in some quarters a 95 per cent chance -- to replace Kahne, who is known to be on the move next season.

The Ford marketing manager in American racing, Tim Duerr, would not confirm that Ambrose was rejoining the Blue Oval but acknowledged the company had long-standing ties with him.

"Marcos started with Ford and Ford brought him to NASCAR," Duerr said. "He bleeds Ford blue, and we would love to see him back in a Ford next season.

"I don't think that Marcos has a signed Sprint Cup ride for next season at present. It all depends on him, a sponsor and a team putting something together, but I am optimistic that we will see Marcos back in a Ford next season."

Ambrose said he "felt it was time for a change" after five years with JTG Daugherty, which is owned by husband and wife Tad and Jodi Geschickter and former basketball champion Brad Daugherty.

"I'm grateful to JTG Daugherty Racing for giving me an opportunity to become a NASCAR driver," he said. "It has been a great five-year journey. I am proud of being their driver, of what we have been able to accomplish together, and thank Tad, Jodi and Brad and the entire race team for everything they have done.

"Our plan is to complete the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season with the same desire and commitment and end our relationship the same way it started with a positive attitude and the willingness to win.

"I have no firm plans of what will come next for me and my career. I would like to continue in NASCAR and finish off what I started, but I have not discounted returning to Australia."

Having come through NASCAR's pick-up truck and then second-tier Nationwide championships, Ambrose has been a Cup driver for 2½ years. In 67 Cup starts he has had nine top 10 finishes, four of them top fives, with his best being second place at the Watkins Glen road course in upstate New York last year.

He almost won last month on another road course, Infineon Raceway in California, but accidentally -- and embarrassingly -- stalled his Toyota Camry while trying to save fuel late in the race. He won two races in his Nationwide days, again on road courses.

While he has worked hard to master NASCAR's predominantly oval tracks, his reputation as a road racing specialist could work against him landing another full-time Cup drive.

Meanwhile, JTG Daugherty, which runs a Toyota prepared by Michael Waltrip Racing, promptly announced after the news of Ambrose's departure that 2000 NASCAR Cup champion Bobby Labonte would be his replacement next season.

Texan Labonte, 46, has won 21 Cup races, earned 199 top 10 finishes -- 114 of them top fives -- with 26 pole positions in his 18 years of full-time Cup racing.

However, he is only 31st in this year's standings, having driven for TRG Motorsports, Robby Gordon Motorsports and Phoenix Racing.

Image: Courtesy of Autostock for jtgdaughertyracing.com

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at www.carsales.mobi