Marcos Ambrose is confident his team made big inroads on its way to 14th place in the Carquest 300 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina today.

The Australian driver showed strong pace and while running a conservative strategy to ensure he came home with a solid haul of points towards his 2008 championship campaign, Ambrose’s pace was clear and he ran well on the leap lap all day at the 1.5-mile speedway.

Ambrose jumped one spot in the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series standings after today’s result, now sitting 14th in the championship after 13 of 35 races.

Ambrose qualified 19th in the #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion, which ran a special livery this weekend in support of Levine Children’s Hospital in Charlotte, in conjunction with Kingsford and Rite-Aid.

Ambrose ran a car livery and helmet paintjob designed by a patient of Levine Children’s Hospital. The helmet will now be auctioned off by JTG Racing, with all proceeds benefiting Levine Children’s Hospital.

During the month of April, Kingsford donated $0.25 to Children’s Miracle Network for every purchase of Kingsford, Match Light or Kingsford Lighter Fluid products at any Rite Aid store in the United States.

Marcos Ambrose - #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion

“It was a really good night for us,” said Ambrose.

“We’ve made big inroads here on the one-and-a-half-mile program and we had a really conservative race.

“It was good, really good. I was really proud of my guys and it shows that we’re making progress.

“We’re not just talking the talk, we’re actually starting to walk the walk a little bit. We’re much more competitive and we were racy all night.

“We just had a really conservative deal – major conservative. We didn’t really have a strategy apart from just being safe.

“We just wanted to keep working on our car, finish the race intact and then go from there.”

RESULTS: Carquest 300 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway
Race 13 of the 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series
1. #32 Kyle Busch 202 laps
2. #20 Denny Hamlin
3. #88 Brad Keselowski
4. #83 Dale Earnhardt Jr
5. #10 Brian Vickers
6. #2 Clint Bowyer
7. #16 Greg Biffle
8. #29 Jeff Burton
9. #6 David Ragan
10. #5 Jimmie Johnson
14. #59 Marcos Ambrose