MOTORSPORT: Ambrose stymied in Sonoma

Nothing went as planned for Australian NASCAR ace Marcos Ambrose in today’s NASCAR Sprint Cup road race at Sonoma in California.

Ambrose finished eighth after starting just 23rd and leading five laps before struggling on badly worn tyres at the finish.

Fellow Ford driver Carl Edwards won, ahead of the Chevrolets of series leader Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Junior.

Expected to contend for pole position given his road circuit experience and form, Ambrose failed to find pace in early practice and never found pace during Saturday’s qualifying.

“Biggest surprise of all. An immense disappointment!” said an anonymous voice over the trackside commentary following Ambrose's lacklustre qualifying performance.

Ambrose himself was critical of his efforts that placed him 23rd for the start. “It wasn’t a good day for us," he said.

For the odds-on race favourite, his words didn’t quite match is body language, which was telling a very different story. The man was all smiles after practice and qualifying. If this was his poker face, he appeared to be bluffing. Hold that thought.

Pole went to Jamie McMurray, again, with a new track record bettering his 2013 pole lap at the twisty Sonoma circuit. AJ Allmendinger was just off pole and he too was astounded at the absence of Ambrose.

“When it comes to road courses I guess there’s no such thing as a ringer anymore.” Allmeninger’s comment applied not only to Ambrose but also to Gordon.

Young California Kyle Larson, who replaced Juan Pablo Montoya in the Chip Ganassi team, found himself starting in third. He’d never driven Sonoma despite growing up nearby.

“I did a lot better than I thought,” he said. “I don’t feel like I’m that great in the car yet.”

To that AJ laughed and said: “Kid you’re already great.”

Remember the name. Ganassi has found a real talent in the 22-year-old Japanese-American from Sacramento.

Ambrose started the 350-mile, 110-lap race with a simple strategy in mind: “I’ll manage the tyres and 15-20 laps into the race I’ll start moving to the front.”

By lap 20, he was sitting in 16th. By lap 27, Ambrose had cut his way through the field and was sitting in the top 10 before pitting for new Goodyears.

The crew also softened the rear suspension to allow more roll, hoping that might reduce oversteer and save the rears.

Ambrose’s rise to NASCAR is unique. Most – including Gordon and Larson – raced sprintcars during their teens, and the transition to NASCAR is more a step down in power.

Balancing 1576kg and 645kW with the throttle and feeling for traction is instinctive to American drivers raised on dirt.

With 41 laps to go Ambrose pitted for his second stop. It seems possible that Ambrose may be considering a two-stop strategy.

If so, it may explain why he qualified so poorly, choosing to favour a race set-up instead of a qualifying set-up -- a smart play, considering Goodyear had introduced a new control tyre for this race and none of the teams had real significant data.

With 35 laps to go Ambrose was now sitting in second behind Clint Bowyer, who had also qualified poorly but found pace for the race.

With only 30 laps to go Ambrose moved into the lead, and his strategy began to make perfect sense. A fairly fresh set of rubber could possibly, if driven gently, take him the remaining distance.

Reprieved, the yellow flag was now flapping in the warm California breeze. All looked good except that Edwards, Jimmy Johnson and McMurray were filling Ambrose’s mirrors.

With 25 left, he gets jumped on the yellow restart by Edwards and McMurray. Both are putting distance on Ambrose, whose Ford is being fondled from behind by Gordon’s Chevrolet SS.

Gordon has always been very good at Sonoma, a race he’s won five times and finished second in last year. Another yellow allows Gordon to close the distance behind Ambrose.

The lights turned green with 16 to go and this time Ambrose was pushing McMurray’s tailpipe on the restart. With 13 remaining Gordon tucked inside Ambrose but not without exchanging sponsorship colours.

With 10 to go, Edwards looks relaxed and comfortable in the lead, lapping about a tenth quicker than McMurray. Ambrose is fading, dropping a second per lap and eventually loosing fourth position to Earnhardt Jr. Gordon gets past McMurray and the race now centres on Gordon running down Edwards.

Ambrose keeps fading at about the same rate that Gordon is taking time from leader Edwards. Gordon, though, with five laps to go, makes a simple mistake that costs him 0.3 of a second. He recovers to close to within 0.8 of a second with one lap to go. At the chequered, it’s Edwards by 0.59 over Gordon.

Ambrose fights to hold onto a top 10 finish, taking the chequered in eighth.

“I’ll take a top 10 finish anytime but that’s not where we wanted to finish,” he said.

And when did the team decide on a two-stop strategy? “We decided on a two-stop after qualifying on our arse.”

Gordon too ran a two-stop race and so too did race winner Edwards.

“I wish I had those four or five last laps to do over again,” said Gordon, who at 42 years old is enjoying one of his best seasons.

“The team is giving me the greatest cars I’ve ever had. I’m very confident of what I’m getting behind the wheel of.”

No one predicted Earnhardt would finish in the top three – not even Earnhardt.

“Besides not holding the trophy, this is like a win for us,” he said, still in disbelief at a result that was more good luck than driving skills around the technically challenging Sonoma circuit.

NASCAR is very aware that two of the most popular races on the calendar are the two road courses at Sonoma and Watkins Glen.

It’s likely then that rumours are true: NASCAR will add a third road course to the Sprint Cup series – possibly Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio or Road America.

Ambrose has won twice at Watkins Glen so it is right to again expect great things from him there, but momentum seems to favour Gordon.