Marcos Ambrose Avoids Rain and Wrecks For 2011 Watkins Glen Win

Marcos Ambrose survived a wild Monday finish in Watkins Glen to claim his first career victory in the 2011 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen. Marcos Ambrose was fast all day and got a well-deserved win but the story of this race was the triumph of NASCAR safety over a pair of brutal crashes.

Qualifying

Toyota claimed the pole as Kyle Busch was fastest in qualifying. This was Kyle's first pole of 2011. Ford driver A.J. Allmendinger was second quick and started on the outside of row number one.

Marcos Ambrose was third in his Ford while the Chevrolets of Jimmie Johnson and Juan Montoya rounded out the top five.

Drop Of The Green

The start of the race was delayed about 21 hours due to rain. When the green flag finally flew on Monday morning the clouds were still hanging gray in the sky.

Kyle Busch looked to have the advantge in turn one but AJ Allmendinger went way wide in turn one and got a run on the outside to lead the battle up through the esses. Allmendinger lead lap one and Marcos Ambrose moved up into second as the field dove into turn one for the second time.

The leaders stayed single-file from there through the rest of the early going until Kurt Busch got a lap down and came out of the pits on Allmendinger's tail. Kurt raced hard to get his lap back and ended up punting Allmendinger from the lead in the inner loop.

Marcos Ambrose inherited the top spot and went on to lead the remainder of the, less eventful, early racing. Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson made up the rest of the top three.

Storylines

Late in the race Denny Hamlin took a beating in turn one.

Hamlin had a mechanical failure as he raced off into turn one. Hamlin locked up the brakes but there was nothing he could do but hold on.

Denny hit the tire barrier and moved the Armco barrier itself back a few feet as he plowed into the railing and came to an abrupt halt.

Fortunately all of NASCAR's safety innovations did their jobs and Hamlin walked away. Unfortunately Hamlin's chance of breaking into the top ten and earning a regular Chase spot took a big hit.

Hamlin will probably need to rely on his wild card spot to make it into the 2011 Chase for the Cup.

That was not the most dramatic incident of the day. David Ragan and David Reutimann crashed on the last lap in horrific fashion. This is the highlight reel moment from the race as it looked terrible but all drivers walked away uninjured.

This was the biggest crash of 2011.

After all of NASCAR's modernization efforts how is it that Watkins Glen doesn't have SAFER barriers on those walls that are nearly perpendicular to the track?

Chasing The Checkers

The leaders hit pit road for the final time with 30 laps to go but it took a few laps to cycle through. Whe it did Kyle Busch was in the lead with Brad Keselowski on his bumper. Keselowski passed Kyle just before they pitted but Kyle's Joe Gibbs Racing team got him back on track first.

When the field returned to green flag racing after Denny Hamlin's crash Kyle Busch was in the lead with Brad Keselowski along side. There were just 21 laps to go and Watkins Glen race fans were in for a show.

Kyle Busch got the lead in turn one and Martin Truex made a move on the bottom to make it into second place. Keselowski put a slide job on Truex in the inner loop and retook second but Kyle Busch was long gone.

Marcos Ambrose passed Keselowski for second place with 14 laps to go and set off to hunt down Kyle Busch for the lead. Kyle was more than two seconds ahead but Ambrose was chewing into that lead at a rapid rate.

Ambrose got to Kyle's bumper with eight laps to go. Like the old saying goes, catching him is one thing, passing him is completely different.

Kyle Busch was holding his own but Paul Menard hit the wall with just four laps to go and set up a final green-white-checkers trophy dash for the win.

Kyle restarted in the lead with Marcos Ambrose right beside him. Brad Keslowski and Martin Truex were lined up rigt behind them. Juan Montoya and Jimmie Johnson were looking for a miracle from the third row. This restart had all the makings of a barnburner.

Ambrose spun the tires on the restart and Kyle lead Brad Keselowski into turn one. Kyle Busch locked up the brakes and the leaders were three wide for an instant as Keselowski came out of turn one in the lead over Ambrose while Kyle Busch saw his victory slip away in an instant.

Ambrose haunted Keselowski down the backstretch and gave him a gentle nudge in turn five. Ambrose took the lead when Keslowski slid high and then held off a furious charge on the final lap before David Reutimann took his unbelievable ride which brought out the yellow and ended the race.

Marcos Ambrose picked up the first win of his career and now throws his hat into the ring with an outside shot at the 2011 Chase for the Cup wild card battle.

Top Ten

1. Marcos Ambrose
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Kyle Busch
4. Martin Truex Jr.
5. Joey Logano
6. Kevin Harvick
7. Juan Montoya
8. A.J. Allmendinger
9. Jeff Burton
10. Jimmie Johnson

The Points

Kyle Busch couldn't get the win but he did move up into a tie for the point lead with Carl Edwards after another strong finish.

No new drivers joined the top ten. Denny Hamlin was in eleventh with a real shot at catching Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart. Hamlin lost a spot to twelfth but continues to hold onto the final wild card spot as the highest points driver with one win.

The 2011 NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings:

1. Kyle Busch 0
2. Carl Edwards 0
3. Jimmie Johnson -6
4. Kevin Harvick -14
5. Matt Kenseth -28
6. Kurt Busch -40
7. Jeff Gordon -52
8. Ryan Newman -66
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. -79
10. Tony Stewart -78