Marcos Ambrose wins his first NSCS race after wreck filled ending at The Glen

The smile says it all, Marcos Ambrose is now a winner in
the Sprint Cup series.
Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

Considered by many a road course ringer, Marcos Ambrose proved his prowess on the twists and turns of Watkins Glen International today. After rain forced the race to be ran a day late and in continuing overcast conditions, the race ended in mayhem.


Ambrose was in contention for the win all day, battling with Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski at many times for the lead. Leading four times for a total of 21 laps, this is Ambrose’s first win in the Sprint Cup series in 105 starts and also his seventh top-10 finish of the 2011 season.


Race highlights:

• A.J. Allmendinger takes the lead on lap 1 from pole sitter Kyle Busch and would lead until lap 8
• Marcos Ambrose took the lead at lap 9, showing early he was in it to win it
• Greg Biffle ran out of fuel at lap 29 bringing out the first caution
• Kurt Busch’s day ended early after a crash into the tire barriers in turn 5, brining out a caution at lap 50
• Just a few laps later and another hard wreck into the tire barriers, Denny Hamlin hit hard after a part broke, unsure at this point what specifically broke. Afterwards on Twitter, Denny said “I'm ok.. I don't know what broke but that was one of the hardest hits I've ever had.”
• Setting the race up for a  G-W-C, Paul Menard brought out a caution after cutting a tire
• On the final restart – an all out wreck fest ensued. David Ragan and Boris Said made contact, wrecking David Reutimann who then went air borne. In a separate incident, Tony Stewart went off track and into the grass. Caution came out and the win was awarded to Ambrose.

Race Results:

1. Marcos Ambrose
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Kyle Busch
4. Martin Truex Jr.
5. Joey Logano
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Juan Pablo Montoya
8. A.J. Allmendinger
9. Jeff Burton
10. Jimmie Johnson
11. Clint Bowyer
12. Carl Edwards
13. Jeff Gordon
14. Matt Kenseth
15. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
16. Ryan Newman
17. Jamie McMurray
18. Brian Vickers
19. Bobby Labonte
20. Casey Mears
21. Andy Lally
22. Boris Said
23. Regan Smith
24. Robby Gordon
25. Mark Martin
26. Kasey Kahne
27. Tony Stewart
28. David Ragan
29. David Reutimann
30. Ron Fellows
31. Greg Biffle
32. Paul Menard
33. David Gilliland
34. Terry Labonte
35. Andrew Ranger
36. Denny Hamlin
37. T J Bell
38. Kurt Busch
39. Scott Speed
40. Joe Nemechek
41. Michael McDowell
42. J J Yeley
43. Mike Skinner