Countdown to Daytona: Owner Point Style No. 34 (Marcos Ambrose)

Welcome to Day 2 of my 35-day venture throughout the Top 35 teams in the owner standings for 2009.

Today, we look at a driver who spent little time behind the wheel in 2008 in the Cup Series, but one who finished 10th in the Nationwide Series points.

I changed my format from yesterday just a bit and added two additional fields, My Prediction for 2009 and Will this team remain in top-35. I thought it’d be fun to give a little preview on how I think each team will do throughout the season.

Hope you enjoy part two of 35!

Reminder: 34 days until the cars hit the track at Daytona for the Budweiser Shootout.

Countdown to Daytona: Owner Point Style No. 34

Today’s Spotlight: No. 47

Team: JTG Daugherty Racing

Driver: Marcos Ambrose

Sponsor(s): Kingsford Charcoal, Clorox, Bush’s Baked Beans and Little Debbie. For a look at the paint schemes, visit Jayski.com

Driver 2008 Stats: Ambrose finished the 2008 season ranked 45th in the driver’s points. In 12 starts, he finished in the top-5 and top-10 once and brought home just over $1.1 million.

In the Nationwide Series [where he competed full-time], Ambrose finished 10th in the points with three top-5 finishes and six top-10 finishes. He earned just over $1 million in the series.

News: This is another team that benefited from the closing of two DEI teams, because it moved them up into the Top 35. It’s also a confusing situation, because when the car first hit the track in 2008, it was a Ford Fusion driven under the Wood Brothers banner.

Later in the season, it was transformed into a Toyota under the Waltrip stable and essentially took over the No. 00.

Ambrose has what it takes to be competitive at this level and will definitely compete for a win at both road course races in 2009.

During NASCAR’s off-season, he was voted Australian Driver of the Year by Australian motor racing magazine Auto Action for the second consecutive year.

Ambrose fared well during his final four races in a Toyota and improved each weekend, with the exception of the season finale in Homestead.

He averaged a 27.5 place finish, which would no doubt have been higher had he not finished 42nd in the final race.

My Prediction for 2009: This team will be a middle of the pack team in 2009. Ambrose has the ability to compete in several of the races and should finish with a couple top-10 finishes, he may even pull off a win at a road course, but overall these are still more or less Waltrip Racing cars and Ambrose still has some learning to do.

Will this team remain in the Top 35: I could see this team being out of the Top 35 or just barely in by the end of the first five races, but I’m confident they will pull it off and finish the season with no problem inside the Top 35.

B-Blog

This article also appears on my blog: Sports101