Finishing 17th in the rain-shortened Daytona 500, Marcos Ambrose started off his first full time season in the Cup Series with a respectable effort.

With the No. 47 Toyota being loose at the top of the superspeedway, Ambrose began to communicate with crew chief Frank Kerr. The team corrected the issue by placing a fresh set of tires on the Little Debbie Toyota.

Not too long after, Ambrose began complaining of the car being too loose in the middle. With NASCAR implementing a competition yellow on lap 25 the crew chief saw it as a good opportunity to make the necessary adjustments.

“The Little Debbie® Toyota was really loose in and quite a bit different from our first run,” Ambrose stated. “It would really get loose when I tried to run up top. On the bottom of the track the handling seemed to be good, but the car was a bit slow down there and it was hitting the track.”

The problem would never be fixed throughout the event, causing worry for the No. 47 team.

Running in the 27th spot on lapt 123, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made contact with Brian Vickers taking out several cars. Ambrose escaped the wreckage unharmed and quickly advanced to 17th.

With rain on the radar, Kerr decided to keep Ambrose out on the track. His decision payed off. NASCAR forced an end to the race, giving the No. 47 JTG/Daugherty Racing team a top-20 finish to start off the season.

“It was an amazing experience,” Ambrose said. “It’s nothing like I’ve experienced before. I had an incredible time and a busy couple of weeks leading up to the Daytona 500. To see all the fans in the stands was really spectacular. On top of the fans coming out, there were so many celebrities that showed up like Tom Cruise, Gene Hackman and Keith Urban to name a few. I made some new friends myself with two Atlanta Braves players – Peter Moylan and Phil Stockman – from Australia. We got to hang out and I’m going to try to catch a few Braves games this year. Stylez G. White with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers also came out and hung out with our teams. My first Daytona was pretty special.”