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 Marcos Ambrose continued his hot streak of form in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, securing his career best third straight top-five result aboard the DEWALT Ford Fusion, finishing fifth in the Bristol night race.
Considered one of the toughest events of the 36 race schedule, Ambrose banged fenders with the biggest names in NASCAR over 500 laps on the tight half-mile speedway.
The finish sees Ambrose still hold down a chance to claim a spot in the season ending Chase for the Sprint Cup, with a victory at either of the next two events almost certain to cement the Australian into NASAR’s playoffs.
“It’s been a great month,” Ambrose said.
“I’ve just got to thank Todd Parrott and everybody over at Richard Petty Motorsports for giving me great cars and giving me a good chance to run at the front.
“I’m just really proud to represent the King (Richard Petty) and be up there for DEWALT, it’s good to have a strong run for them and give them a shot to make the Chase.
“We had a rocket from about halfway through, and I thought we had a real chance to win the race with about 200 laps to go.”
Starting from ninth, Ambrose slotted into 11th place for the early running, before getting off line and dropping back to 17th.
Sam Hornish Jnr brought out the second caution of the race on lap 82, with Ambrose lining up 16th for the restart after pitting.
Not stopping under the third caution, Ambrose resumed from 13th, but advanced a position after making a smart move stick on Kyle Busch.
The fourth caution flashed for David Ragan’s fiery ending on lap 148, and after staying on the track, Ambrose took the green flag from fifth position.
The Australian slipped back to eighth before Juan Montoya sent Ryan Newman into the wall, with the stricken car then struck by Jeff Burton.
After receiving a service from the Richard Petty Motorsports crew, Ambrose returned to action in 18th, and made smart progress to work his way into 13th before team mate Aric Almirola hit the fence.
With others electing to stop, Ambrose advanced to sixth, and then fourth by the hallway mark of the race.
By the time Brad Keselowski found the inside wall, Ambrose sat in third, however slipped to 14th after hitting pit road.
Battling hard, Ambrose made it back into the top-ten by the 300 lap mark, prior to Kurt Busch and Regan Smith coming together on lap 322.
From third position at the restart, Ambrose had a perfect view of leaders Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart wrecking, which saw the number nine resume from second place alongside Joey Logano.
Restarting on the inside line, Ambrose did well to slot in behind Logano, holding station until Dave Blaney caused the next caution.
Making his final scheduled stop under the yellow, the DEWALT Ford restarted well down the order, but was elevated to fourth when pole sitter Casey Mears smacked the wall, sending many of the leaders pit side.
Moving straight into third place after the green flag, a debris caution slowed the field once again, and from that restart Ambrose fell to fifth after working his way up to the preferred outside racing line.
Danica Patrick brought out the final caution of the race after contact with Smith, with Ambrose once again having to work his way to the outside line, where he found himself in sixth position.
Forging his way past Carl Edwards with 22 laps to go, Ambrose was able to hold station behind Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Brian Vickers to the finish.
Next week the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series steps up a notch, with the penultimate round before the Chase cut-off scheduled for the 2.41km long high-banked Atlanta Motor Speedway.
The Chase for the Sprint Cup sees the top-10 point scores from the opening 26 races of the season battle it out over the final ten events for the title.
Two wild card positions are also available in the Chase for drivers who sit between positions 11 through 20, with the slots awarded to the drivers who have the most race wins.
While Kahne sits in 11th position with two victories to his credit, Gordon, Newman, Ambrose and Logano have all picked up a single win this year, and are set to battle it out at Atlanta and Richmond. Bristol Night Race Results 1. Denny Hamlin (Toyota) 2. Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) 3. Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet) 4. Brian Vickers (Toyota) 5.Marcos Ambrose (Ford) 6. Kyle Busch (Toyota) 7. Clint Bowyer (Toyota) 8. Joey Logano (Toyota) 9. Kasey Kahne (Chevrolet) 10. Paul Menard (Chevrolet) NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings (after 24 of 36 races) 1. Greg Biffle (Ford)- 849 points 2.Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet)- 838 3.Dale Earnhardt Jnr (Chevrolet)- 834 4.Matt Kenseth (Ford)- 823 5. Martin Truex Jnr (Toyota)- 797 6.Clint Bowyer (Toyota)- 794 7. Brad Keselowski (Dodge)- 790 8. Denny Hamlin (Toyota)- 774 9.Kevin Harvick (Chevrolet)- 767 10.Tony Stewart (Chevrolet)- 746 17. Marcos Ambrose (Ford)- 679 See the original post... | 
