SONOMA, Calif. — Marcos Ambrose had his first career Sprint Cup Series victory in sight when a late caution threw a roadblock into his path.
Then his own bizarre gaffe cost him the win.
Ambrose stalled his engine while conserving gas late in Sunday’s race at Infineon Raceway, where his car came to a stop while leading with six laps remaining. He restarted and reclaimed his lead, but NASCAR ordered him back to seventh place and Jimmie Johnson inherited the lead.
Johnson then cruised to his first career road-course win, while Ambrose had to settle for a sixth-place finish.
“My bad,” the Australian said. “I’m disappointed. It’s NASCAR’s house, and I’ll always play by the rules. I don’t agree with it, I don’t like it and that’s only because I lost the race because of it.”
It was yet another cruel defeat for Ambrose, a road racing ace who has fallen short of victory several times in NASCAR because of various reasons.
He was spun by Robby Gordon while leading the Nationwide Series race at Montreal in 2007, and last year was passed by Carl Edwards in the final turn at the same track. Although he has two career Nationwide wins on the road course at Watkins Glen, he’s winless in the Cup Series despite three top-three finishes on five career road courses.
“I feel bad for him,” Johnson said. “It was definitely a gift kind of handed to us.”
The four-time defending series champion won for the fourth time this season, but first since Bristol in March — a 10-race drought that had many wondering why Johnson was “slumping.” Aside from ending the slump, Johnson more importantly added a road course victory to his resume and knocked Sonoma off the list of five Cup tracks where he had never been to Victory Lane.
Although Johnson led 55 of the 110 laps, it was Ambrose’s race to lose at the end. Ambrose, who led 35 laps, had a comfortable lead over Johnson when Brad Keselowski’s spin brought out the late caution.
Instructed by crew chief Frank Kerr to conserve fuel in case the race went into NASCAR’s version of “overtime,” Ambrose began flipping his motor on and off at various points around the race track.
Robby Gordon finished second in a Toyota for his highest finish of the season, and series points leader Kevin Harvick was third in a Chevrolet. Defending race winner Kasey Kahne finished fourth in a Ford and Jeff Gordon was fifth.
