After two green-white-checkered flag attempts at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Marcos Ambrose recorded a top-15 finish for a second week in a row on Sunday. The Australian driver brought his No. 47 Lance Toyota home in 11th-place and advanced his JTG Daugherty Racing team five positions to 28th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings.

“We survived a couple of crashes at the end and finished 11th with our Lance Toyota,” Ambrose said. “It was our first race for Lance and we really wanted to finish strong.”

In the closing laps, Ambrose capitalized avoiding multiple accidents during the scheduled 325-lap event that finally ended at lap 341. One of those incidents included the No. 99 car of Carl Edwards making contact with Brad Keselowski’s machine that launched into the air upside down at lap 322. Then on a restart at lap 331, Jamie McMurray got loose and made contact with Clint Bowyer’s car collecting Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Mark Martin and Denny Hamlin.

“It was wild there at the end and I’m glad everyone’s alright,” Ambrose said.

When Ambrose started his engine for the Kobalt Tools 500 early Sunday afternoon, he rolled off pit road in 12th place for the 500-mile race. He easily maintained a top 15 run and crew chief Frank Kerr called him to pit road for the first time at lap 36 for four tires and to raise the track bar a quarter-round. The No. 47 Lance Toyota left pit road in 10th place for the restart on lap 39 that immediately resulted in another caution when Keselowski tapped Edwards and his car scooted up the track into Joey Logano. Ambrose restarted 10th again with Kyle Busch leading the field to green.

On lap 46, Ambrose moved forward into eighth place before reporting his Lance Toyota was hitting the ground. As his right rear began to wear out, Ambrose slid outside the top 10. When a debris caution occurred at lap 78, Ambrose entered pit road for four tires, a packer and an air pressure adjustment. On lap 83, Ambrose restarted 20th.

“It had no grip,” Ambrose said.

The JTG Daugherty Racing pit crew went to work on the Lance Toyota again under caution at lap 116.

“They made a track bar and wedge adjustment and put on fresh tires,” Ambrose said. “It was really loose off.”

Restarting 16th at lap 119, Ambrose was still faced with his car hitting the ground hard upsetting the balance. Even though he did not have grip, he was still running in the top 15.
A caution for Logano blowing a tire at lap 157 allowed Ambrose to come back into the pits for four tires and another track bar and air adjustment.

“It was pushy loose off and hitting the ground,” Ambrose said.

The green flag waved at lap 164 and Ambrose was scored in 21st place. Running 13th at lap 189, Ambrose was loose in and loose off with no forward drive.  Holding onto a top 15 spot, he came down pit road under green at lap 210 for four tires and more adjustments. The team kept after the handling and pitted Ambrose again at lap 226 under caution.

“It was still hitting the ground and was loose,” Ambrose said.

On the restart at lap 229, Ambrose quickly reported to Kerr that his car was plowing like a dump truck. On lap 274 under green, the JTG Daugherty Racing team went to work again. As the race went on, Ambrose repeatedly pitted hoping to find a considerable constant balance.

“It was hard to keep the car constant,” said Ambrose, who also pitted at laps 289, 294 and 327. “We just kept after it.”

At the end of the race Ambrose dodged a couple of accidents, which paid dividends for the JTG Daugherty Racing team. Ambrose crossed the finish line in 11th place in the fourth race of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season.

Kurt Busch held off Matt Kenseth for the victory. Juan Pablo Montoya was third, Kasey Kahne was fourth and Paul Menard was fifth.
This weekend the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is off. The next race takes place at Bristol Motor Speedway. Live coverage on Sunday, March 21st begins at 1 p.m. ET on FOX and 12 p.m. ET on PRN.

About Lance, Inc.

Lance, Inc. headquartered in Charlotte, NC, manufactures and markets snack foods throughout much of the United States and other parts of North America. The Company’s products include sandwich crackers and cookies, potato chips, cookies, crackers, other salty snacks, sugar wafers, nuts, restaurant style crackers and candy. Lance has manufacturing facilities in North Carolina, Iowa, Georgia, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida, Ohio, and Ontario, Canada. Products are sold under the Lance, Cape Cod, Tom’s, Archway and Stella D’oro brand names along with a number of private brands and third party brands. The Company’s products are distributed through its direct-store-delivery system, a network of independent distributors and direct shipments to customer locations. Products are distributed widely through grocery and mass merchant stores, convenience stores, club stores, food service outlets and other channels.