Marcos Ambrose started 19th and finished 22nd at the Power Stroke Diesel 200 Presented by Ford and International Friday at the O'Reilly Raceway Park. Ambrose has a unique sponsorship package with Team Australia and Aussie Vineyards before the race. Team Australia also is supported by RM Williams clothing, Tourism Australia and other progressive Australian brands.

Marcos Ambrose on ORP: "We had a 200-lap race and I think we did about 199 pit stops. I guess it's a bit of me learning what I need out there. I just didn't treat it well enough in practices. I didn't know what I needed for the race. When the night comes, the track is very different and we tuned on it and tuned on it and got it pretty good at the end. I think we were 15th or 16th and catching them, but the (No.) 4 (Timothy Peters) was pretty wild out there. He got into it with the (No.) 1 (Robert Richardson), and I got a bit of a tank slap going down the frontstretch. I lost it trying to miss it and had nowhere to go."

Marcos Ambrose on the season: "It's clear our biggest learning curve is on the short tracks. There's a lot of aggressive driving on the short tracks, and it's something that's new to me. I've been caught up in a lot of other people's messes on the short tracks. Not only do you have to learn how to drive on these tracks, part of the learning process is learning who you can race with and who you need to avoid."

Crew Chief Gary Gogswell on ORP:  "I know Marcos is disappointed with the way the race unfolded, but that's what happens on a short track. If you look at the big picture, the race was a huge success. Our goal coming in here was to finish on the lead lap. We did that. Better yet, we did that with a lot of adversity. That's something that's going to help Marcos as a driver and everyone else on this team in the future. We battled through a lot and still got a decent finish out of it."

Marcos Ambrose's 2006 Season Highlights

• Best Starting Position: Second (Michigan)
• Best Finishing Position: Third (Kansas)
• Most Money Won: $25,325 (Kansas)