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Ambrose grew up in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, the son of another racing driver, Ross Ambrose and was educated at Scotch Oakburn College. He began racing karts at the age of ten. He won four Tasmanian state junior karting titles and was the Australian karting champion in 1995 in the Clubman Heavy class at the Dubbo circuit in New South Wales. He moved into Formula Ford in 1996. Ambrose finished second in the Australian Formula Ford championship in 1997. In 1998 Ambrose moved to Europe in a bid to reach Formula One. At the first V8 Supercar race of 2005, Ambrose called a press conference on the Saturday morning to announce to the top staff and fans that he would leave V8 Supercars at the end of the 2005 season to try to make a career in NASCAR. In 2006, he raced in the NASCAR Truck Series, piloting the #20 Team Australia/Aussie Vineyards Ford for Team Australia. His best finish would be third on two occasions (Kansas and Nashville). In 2005 Ambrose signed his deal to compete under NASCAR and Ford Motor Company signed Ambrose to participate overseas in the United States with Wood Brothers/JTG Racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2006 to start his career. However, Ambrose had to wait until part way through the 2006 season to begin. NASCAR did not clear Ambrose to race the NCTS' first three races, as they were held on intermediate to high-speed ovals, and Ambrose was not cleared to start in the faster races yet. Ambrose made his Truck Series debut on

April 1, 2006 at the Kroger 250 at Martinsville Speedway. Ambrose is the first notable Australian driver in a NASCAR sanctioned event since Dick Johnson in 1990. Ambrose made history by finishing third in the O'Reilly Auto Parts 250 at Kansas Speedway on 2 July 2006. This was the first time a non-American driver has finished in the top five of a truck series event since Canadian Ron Fellows won on the Watkins Glen road course on 26 June 1999. He also took the lead in the opening laps, becoming the first Australian to lead laps in Camping World Truck Series competition.
For 2007, Ambrose stepped up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the #59 Kingsford Ford Fusion fielded by Wood Brothers/JTG Racing. Prior to the 2008 season, Wood Brothers Racing and JTG Racing split into two teams. He made his first start at Sonoma in the #21 Wood

Brothers car. He also drove the full Xfinity Series schedule.
On 15 July 2008, it was announced that Ambrose would run the full 2009 cup schedule with JTG Racing with a new partnership with Brad Daugherty. The team was renamed JTG Daugherty Racing. Ambrose got his first Xfinity Series win on 9 August 2008 in the Zippo 200 at Watkins Glen. The next day, he finished 3rd in the Cup race, after starting in 43rd position in the Centurion Boats at the Glen, behind winner Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart. Ambrose drove the #47 Toyota in the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup series, after forming a technical alliance with Michael Waltrip Racing and Toyota Racing Development. Ambrose was ineligible for 2009 Rookie of the Year consideration because he ran 11 races in 2008. Ambrose finished 10th in the 2009 Food City 500, despite losing a cylinder with about 100 laps to

go. He would back this Top-10 finish up by posting four more in the first half of the season. Ambrose got his second straight Xfinity Series win at Watkins Glen, his second in two years as he held off Kyle Busch for the win. He followed up with a second place in the Cup race at the Glen. The 2010 season was a myriad of troubles for Ambrose. Engine problems, unlucky crashes and pit road troubles plagued his racing season. However, in the Zippo 200 at The Glen, Ambrose won his third straight Watkins Glen he held off Joey Logano and Kevin Harvick to win. In

the Cup race that year at Sonoma, Ambrose led 35 laps, and held a ten-second lead over Jimmie Johnson. His lead got erased by a caution on lap 104. During the caution, Ambrose turned off his car's engine to conserve fuel, but was unable to restart it. As a result, Ambrose attempted to return to his spot, but was forced to fall to seventh on the restart due to not maintaining a particular speed during the caution, and finished sixth. Ambrose announced on 17 August 2010 that he signed a multi-year deal with Richard Petty Motorsports to drive the #9 Stanley/DeWalt Power Tools Ford Fusion. In August, Ambrose won the rain delayed Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen, on 15 August, to rack up his first career Cup Series win by passing Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch with two laps to go. Ambrose further vindicated his road course abilities,

backing up under a week later by taking an emotional victory at Montreal in the Xfinity Series. Ambrose returned to Richard Petty Motorsports for 2012. In February he almost won the Budweiser Shootout with bump-drafting help from Keselowski; but lost the lead just as he took the white flag to Tony Stewart and eventual race winner Kyle Busch. Returning to Watkins Glen, Ambrose started fifth and dominated part of the race but was passed in a three-wide move by Kyle Busch with 20 laps remaining. When the white flag was about to wave, he saw that Busch was slipping in oil; in the entrance to the esses; he and Brad Keselowski passed him; Ambrose then saw that Keselowski was slipping in oil too, and he took the lead in the final turn, holding off Keselowski for the second time in a row and defending his win from the previous year. 2013 saw Ambrose have his struggles. Ambrose was on his way to a

good finish in the NRA 500 at Texas Motor Speedway before crashing with Jeff Burton and finishing a lap down. Then, a couple weeks later he had a frustrating day at Richmond International Raceway when his engine failed early, and he finished 42nd. Various issues cropped up all season. He had a 18th place finish in the 2014 Daytona 500. At Bristol, Ambrose finished fifth in what was statistically one of Richard Petty Motorsports' best races to date, as teammate Aric Almirola finished third. It was Ambrose's first top five finish in a race since the 2012 Irwin Tools Night Race. At Richmond, Ambrose was running in the top five of the Richmond 400, when he had a dust up with Casey Mears. Ambrose returned to the Xfinity Series at Watkins Glen in the #09. Ambrose dominated the

race and won his fifth Xfinity victory holding off Kyle Busch in a performance reminiscent of 2009. The next day Ambrose started second and after leading some laps, came up short after a side-by-side battle with former teammate A. J. Allmendinger who beat Ambrose by 1.5 seconds
In September, Ambrose said he did not expect to be back with Richard Petty Motorsports in 2015. Not long after it was announced that Ambrose would be returning to Australia after the 2014 NASCAR season ends for what Ambrose and Petty described as "personal reasons." In his final NASCAR race, the 2014 Ford EcoBoost 400, Ambrose qualified 17th. He struggled with a poor-handling car, and hit the wall on lap 195, but managed to finish 27th and on the lead lap. When asked about his departure from NASCAR Ambrose stated: "I think I've accomplished all I can accomplish in NASCAR. When I came it was clear all

I could do was win races, and not have any chance at a championship. I've enjoyed my time here and I will miss my friends and the other drivers very much, but this move is done mostly to help my children get raised in our native country, and I feel like I want to start a new chapter in my life. I'm glad to leave with multiple wins in NASCAR and having raced for the King." He would retire from NASCAR and move back home to his native Tasmania and race in the V-8 Super car series again. He ran one season there and then retired from racing altogether. For his Cup career; Marcos ran 227 cup events and garnered two wins. He had 18 top five finishes, and 46 top tens, and made over 30 million dollars in his eight year career. He made 77 starts in the Xfinity series winning on five occasions; all on road courses. Some info from Wikipedia.

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

MARCOS AMBROSE - 9/1/1976