MARCOS AMBROSE SET TO CONQUER THE MONSTER MILE OF DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

MARCOS AMBROSE – No. 59 Kingsford with Hickory Ford Fusion – TALK ABOUT RETURNING TO DOVER.  “It’s a great race track and it’s always a challenge especially to qualify on. Our team has gone through so much change that it’s hard to really know what we did last spring that worked.  The tires have changed, the track has changed, so who knows how we’re going to run this weekend.”

SOME DRIVES SAY THEY RACE THE TRACK WHILE OTHERS RACE THE COMPETITION.  HOW DO YOU RACE? “I race the track.  I try to get the most out of the track first.  You can carry a lot of speed into the corners.  It’s a pretty challenging track.  It’s a bit like Darlington, I reckon.  At Darlington you race the track and you worry about the competition second.  If you can conquer the track, then you’re gonna go pretty well, pass cars and be in good shape.  I think I’ll drive the track.”

WHAT IS MORE CHALLENGING, RACING THE TRACK OR COMPETITION? “It’s one in the same thing, really.  It’s just how you want to focus your energy.  If you just focus on how you’re driving and fight the race track, then you’ll pass people by accident just by carrying the speed that you need.  I think racing the track is tough.”

THE QUALIFYING DRAW PLACES YOU MID-PACK.  IS THAT A BETTER? “Yeah, I think we got a pretty good draw.  The concrete is fairly stable. As long as the track is clean, you’re in good shape.  You don’t want to be the first five or six and you don’t want to be the last five or six.  In the middle is pretty good.”

WILL TRACK POSITION BE A FACTOR? “You want to be as far to the front as you can on all these races because with the motor these days, it’s really hard to pass.  If you can get track position in the top-10, you should stay there.”

YOU’RE 14^th IN POINTS; CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR SEASON TO DATE?  “We’re climbing back, which is great.  We’ve got to keep the run going.  We’ve got some good races coming up for us, I think.  Hopefully, we can get through the summer well and set ourselves up.  The top 10 is not that far away now.  That’s what our aim is, to get back in there and start working away at that.  We’ve got a ways to go.  It’s been a pretty competitive year up front.  The top 16 guys are always doing well every week.  It’s hard to be consistent and gain points.  We need to have strong top-10s, but they’ve been hard to come by.  We’re working our way back up, which is good.”

DO YOU THINK HAVING A STRETCH OF RACES HELPS WITH MOMENTUM? “It helps the drivers and the teams get into a swing, but it can get out of control, too.  You can start crashing cars or you’ve got problems back in the shop and you’re not there to fix and help.  It’s a double-edged sword.”

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