Making it an even better story, Ambrose became the first Australian to win in NASCAR when he won the Nationwide Series race, the Zippo 200, one day before. He assumed the lead with three laps to go, when Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson both had to pit.

All in all the weekend was a career weekend for Ambrose, and a shot in the arm for both JTG Racing and Wood Brother’s Racing.

While I don’t think Ambrose is going to suddenly turn WBR around, he certainly is walking a little bit taller. And with the five races he has left with the team, look for him to try to learn all he can and gain all the respect he can.

If he stays focused, he should be able to improve the team’s position in the standings, by making races and staying out of trouble, much like he did on Saturday and Sunday.

Ambrose took the lead when both Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Burton had to pit because they were out of fuel. Ambrose assumed the top spot and conserved enough fuel to make it to the checkered flag.

Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Kevin Harvick, and Dario Franchitti rounded out the top 5.

Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Jason Leffler, David Ragan and Brad Coleman were the rest of the top 10.

Notables: Max Papis (11th), Ryan Newman (12th), Jeff Burton (14th), David Reutimann (15th), Robby Gordon (19th), Clint Bowyer (23rd), Carl Edwards (25th), Boris Said (27th), Jimmie Johnson (29th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (30th), Denny Hamlin (34th), and Sam Hornish Jr. (36th).

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was running in the top 10 in the closing laps, when something broke on the car. He radioed that it might have been a sway bar or something in the rear end. He ended up finishing 30th.

Jimmie Johnson was contending for the lead in the closing laps, but ran out of fuel with five laps to go. Then, he was assessed a pit road speeding penalty and had to return to the pits to serve the penalty. He finished 29th.

Jeff Burton and Kyle Busch were fighting for the lead in the closing laps, when Busch, who was running second to Burton at the time, got into a corner a little too hot and made contact with Burton. Both spun but Busch went around once and was able to get going and assume the lead. 

As the other cars slowed due to a lot of smoke, Burton was able to get going and maintain second. He drove Busch down and moved him out of the way to resume the lead. Busch fell back a bit and ended up finishing second. Burton had to pit because he was short on fuel. He finished 14th.

On a restart, Carl Edwards, Clint Bowyer, Matt Kenseth and others were racing for position going into turn 1. Edwards dove to the inside to pass Kenseth, but got in too hot and slid in front of Kenseth into Bowyer. Both spun and sustained moderate damage. Edwards and Bowyer had to pit to fix the damage. They finished 25th and 23rd respectively.