Marcos Ambrose has made a great start to this weekend’s Sam’s Town 250 with seventh fastest in final practice at Memphis Motorsports Park in Memphis, Tennessee today.

Ambrose was the fastest Ford in today’s final practice, getting the #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion right on the pace from the outset.

The Australian was 15th fastest in opening practice and again 15th fastest in rookie practice as he worked towards a strong race set-up for tomorrow’s 250-lap event.

After a run of poor luck lately Ambrose is keen to bounce back in Memphis, which starts a run of four-straight races to end the 2007 NASCAR Busch Series.

Ambrose currently lies ninth in the overall NASCAR Busch Series standings and is second in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year points behind fellow Ford driver David Ragan.

Steven Wallace was fastest in final practice today ahead of Jason Leffler and Jason Keller. Qualifying and the race will be held tomorrow.

Marcos Ambrose – #59 Kingsford Charcoal Ford Fusion

THROUGHOUT THE YEAR YOU’VE STRUGGLED A BIT ON SHORT TRACKS. TODAY YOU WERE AS HIGH AS THIRD IN PRACTICE, WHAT’S CHANGED?

“We ran well at Richmond. I don’t think it is anything but timing. We ran well at Richmond and we’ve run pretty well here in practice and we’re happy with it.

“I don’t think we’ve necessarily been as good on the short tracks as we should have been. We’re chipping away at it. Our intermediate program has gotten a lot better. Our short track program is getting a lot better. Our speedway program is not too bad anyways.

“I’m happy that we are running good here in practice, but I want to run good in the race. I want to get a top 10 on a short track and get that perception that I’m no good on a short track out of the way.”

KELLY BIRES AND HIS TEAM HAVE MADE A LOT OF CHANGES TO THEIR FUSIONS. HAVE YOU BENEFITED FROM THE CHANGES THAT THEY ARE MAKING ON HIS RACE FUSION?

“It hurts your team because whenever you’ve got change, there’s always a settling period. You’re changing cars and personnel and drivers and stuff and you want to move forward as a group. When you’ve got all the construction, it’s hard to move forward. It’s nice that Kelly’s been in that car and he’s been consistently running well. We’re getting better and better and talking to each other and getting feedback off each other. It’s a good experience right now and we’re building up to a pretty good package for next year.”

HOW WAS THE TRACK THIS AFTERNOON?

“It’s a funny little track. You forget after a year what it’s like. It’s a racy place. There’s going to be a lot of action. It’s a real short track. There’s going to be three-wide action, I’m sure. There’s going to be bumping. It’s going to be a tough track to race on.”

THIS IS YOUR SECOND YEAR HERE, WHAT IS YOUR OPINION ON THE DRIVERS FROM OTHER RACING SERIES JOINING NASCAR?

“Yeah, Good on ‘em. It justifies my decision to come across. I think it was a shock to my Australian fans and they scratched their heads, but once they see what’s happening here, it’s kind of exciting. I hope that I can run with them in Cup one day, if they’re all heading to Cup, that’s great. I haven’t cemented my future yet, so I’m hoping one day I’ll get to race and get to race them all the way up to the top.”

YOU’RE NINTH IN POINTS STANDINGS. THERE ARE 312 POINTS BETWEEN YOU AND THE FIFTH PLACE POSITION. THIS IS STILL A CLOSE SEASON.

“We’ve had such a bad couple of weeks that I haven’t even thought of looking at the points. We’ve just got to deliver. We’ve got all the promise in the world and we just want to deliver. I don’t look at the points; I don’t consider myself in that. I’m not going to points race. I’m just going to go out there and try to run as well and try and finish as far up as I can.”

RESULTS: Final Practice
1. #66 Steve Wallace 22.836
2. #38 Jason Leffler 22.875
3. #11 Jason Keller 22.890
4. #42 Dario Franchitti 23.005
5. #88 Brad Keselowski 23.018
6. #99 Mark Green 23.042
7. #59 Marcos Ambrose 23.065
8. #29 Scott Wimmer 23.155
9. #9 Chase Miller 23.159
10. #77 Brandon Miller 23.172

RESULTS: Rookie Practice
1. #64 Chase Austin 23.169
2. #41 Bryan Clauson 23.205
3. #21 Tim McCreadie 23.220
4. #88 Brad Keselowski 23.301
5. #42 Dario Franchitti 23.331
6. #18 Brad Coleman 23.334
7. #47 Kelly Bires 23.341
8. #12 Marc Mitchell 23.388
9. #25 Richard Johns 23.409
10. #16 Colin Braun 23.449
15. #59 Marcos Ambrose 23.676

RESULTS: Practice 1
1. #77 Brandon Miller 22.979
2. #38 Jason Leffler 23.004
3. #20 Casey Atwood 23.035
4. #22 Mike Bliss 23.036
5. #99 Mark Green 23.097
6. #42 Dario Franchitti 23.123
7. #88 Brad Keselowski 23.159
8. #35 Bobby Hamilton Jr 23.163
9. #11 Jason Keller 23.185
10. #26 Kenny Wallace 23.202
15. #59 Marcos Ambrose 23.296

2007 NASCAR Busch Series Points Standings – After Race 31
1. Carl Edwards 4276
2. David Reutimann 3638
3. Kevin Harvick 3523
4. Jason Leffler 3451
5. David Ragan 3299
6. Bobby Hamilton Jr 3264
7. Greg Biffle 3136
8. Stephen Leicht 3046
9. Marcos Ambrose 2987
10. Matt Kenseth 2981

2007 NASCAR Busch Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year Standings – After Race 31
1. David Ragan 222
2. Marcos Ambrose 192
3. Kyle Krisiloff 177
4. Juan Pablo Montoya 165
5. Brad Keselowski 165
6. Brad Coleman 156
7. Robert Richardson Jr 99
8. Justin Diercks 51
9. Sam Hornish Jr 35
10. Bobby Santos 21

2007 RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE RACE AWARD TALLY
David Ragan 10
Marcos Ambrose 5
Juan Pablo Montoya 4
Brad Coleman 4
Brad Keselowski 4
Kyle Krisiloff 3
Timothy Peters 1