Marcos Ambrose extended his NASCAR hot streak with a fifth placing in a hectic 500-lap night race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday.
The result – following a win at Watkins Glen, New York, two weeks ago and another fifth last week – has Ambrose in with a chance to contest the season-ending Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Another victory at either of the next two events would almost certainly put the Australian into NASCAR’s version of playoffs, where the leading drivers battle it out over the final 10 races.
Starting from ninth, Ambrose got up as close as third place during an incident-packed race before finishing behind winner Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon and Brian Vickers.
“It’s been a great month,” Ambrose said.
“I thought we had a real chance to win the race with about 200 laps to go.”
The Chase for the Sprint Cup sees the top 10 point scorers from the opening 26 races of the season battle it out along with two wildcards for drivers who sit between positions 11 through 20, with the slots awarded to the drivers withe the most race wins.
While Kasey Kahne sits in 11th position with two victories to his credit, Gordon, Ryan Newman, Ambrose and Joey Logano have all picked up a single win this year, and are set to battle it out at Atlanta and Richmond.