Marcos Ambrose breathed a sigh of relief today after finishing 14th in his No. 47 Kingsford Toyota at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday afternoon. 

“Our season starts now and we finally have something to build on,” said Ambrose. “We had two straight weeks where we did not finish the race due to mechanical failures. Today, this race was a turning point for our JTG Daugherty Racing team.”

The top-15 finish advanced the Australian driver inside the top-35 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points standings. He moved up six positions and is now 33rd following the third race of the regular season.

“We know we have some work to do to dig ourselves out of a hole, but we also know we have the ability and people to do it,” Ambrose said. “We’re really happy we went the distance at Las Vegas and gained some ground in the points standings.”

After qualifying 32nd on Friday, Ambrose and his team regrouped and were pleased with the progress they made in final practice on Saturday.

“We felt like we had a top-10 car by the end practice,” Ambrose said.

After the green flag waved for the 267-lap event, Ambrose was faster than leader Jeff Gordon by lap 32 while scored in 21st-place.

“We were loose up top, but we were fast,” Ambrose said.

Ambrose was on the move and 19th when the second caution flag of the event waved at Lap 45. Crew chief Frank Kerr instructed Ambrose to pit for four tires, an air adjustment, a half-turn of wedge in the left rear and for the pit crew to also raise the track bar a half-turn. 

The Kingsford Toyota restarted 20th with Greg Biffle leading the way. Immediately another caution occurred at Lap 53, but this time it was for a caution light malfunction. On the next long green flag run, Ambrose’s car was loose in and lost grip. On Lap 87, the No. 77 machine of Sam Hornish Jr. spun out causing the fourth caution of the race. It allowed Kerr to call for more changes. This time he asked his pit crew to put the track bar and wedge back to where it was and change four tires.

Ambrose restarted 20th on Lap 92 and Matt Kenseth led the field into Turn 1.  The next lap an accident occurred involving Juan Pablo Montoya, Jamie McMurray and Kurt Busch. When the field was set to return to green flag racing at Lap 97, Ambrose was 14th. Four laps later, the No. 47 Kingsford Toyota was 12th.

Another malfunction with the caution lights happened at Lap 107 giving the JTG Daugherty Racing pit crew the opportunity to change right side tires.

“The car was better, but it was aero-tight behind other cars,” Ambrose said.

Ambrose went back to work on Lap 113 in 14th position with a really loose handling car.

“Right away we were loose in and loose off and tight in the center,” Ambrose said.

The next pit stop on lap 163, Ambrose pitted under green for more adjustments and four fresh Goodyear tires. On Lap 170 at the start-finish line, leader Jeff Gordon placed Ambrose one lap down.

“We had no grip and lost handling,” Ambrose said.

Ambrose still maintained a fast pace. As the frontrunners pitted under green for the next round of pit stops, Ambrose was shown in second place before he entered his pit box for four tires and adjustments at Lap 217.

“After that stop, the car was hitting the bottom some and it seemed to be bound up through the center,” Ambrose said.

On the next caution at Lap 228, Kerr told Ambrose to stay out because he was eligible to be a wave around car to line up ahead of the frontrunners along with Sam Hornish Jr., Brian Vickers, Carl Edwards, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Clint Bowyer led the field to green with 34 laps remaining. Ambrose was 15th. The Australian maintained his top 15 run and crossed the finish line in 14th-place.

The winner of the Shelby American was four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. Kevin Harvick finished second, Jeff Gordon was third, Mark Martin crossed the finish line fourth and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-five. Currently, Kevin Harvick is the points leader.

Next week the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series journeys south to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Kobalt Tools 500. Live coverage on FOX begins at 1 p.m. ET.

***Tonight, March 1st, Marcos Ambrose will be on Fast Track to Fame at 8 p.m. ET and The Racing Chef at 9 PM ET. Both shows are airing for the first time on SPEED Channel.