MARCOS AMBROSE, No. 59 KINGSFORD/BUSH’S FORD: “It’s been a dream start, absolutely fantastic, to finish all the races on the lead lap. It’s as good as we could have hoped for. Once you’ve done that, we’ve realized that we’re in fifth-place and it’s just a great start for us. All we’re focused on is to stay in the top-35 in points. I know that sounds silly when you’re running fifth in points but we’ve got to keep in mind that we want to finish these races and try to finish on the lead lap if we can this weekend and get ourselves a good platform to work from. I looked at the calendar thinking ‘Man, it’s been a pretty tough start to the year’ and we’ve just started. It’s just the very beginning. There’s a lot of races left and we’re running top-10 on a good day and we’re just trying to keep that going and finish the laps.” YOU ARE JON WOOD ARE BOTH RUNNING WELL. “Yeah, we are at the moment. I don’t know why that is [smiles].” HAS THE TEAM IMPROVED A LOT FROM LAST SEASON? “There’s no doubt that we’ve got a great team behind us. There’s been a lot of change in the off-season. Last year was huge for the team just to build the infrastructure, to build the team, forget about results. This year it’s more about let’s pick it up a notch. We’ve got a lot of new guys here on this team and some on the 47. I think we’re on an upward trend. A lot of our success is stuff is not falling off the car. We’re not having mechanical problems and we’ve got the depth in the team to give us good, stable cars for the race. This is a lot for our team and I think we’re on the upswing and hopefully myself and Jon on the Busch side can be the motivation for the rest of the organization, too.” YOU STRUGGLED AT TIMES DURING THE RACE AT LAS VEGAS BUT STILL MANAGED TO FINISH INSIDE THE TOP-10. THAT MUST BE ENCOURAGING. “We were really happy. We qualified 14th which for me was my first proper qualifying on the oval after my fiasco at California. We started somewhere near the front. Before the first pit stop we ran well into the top-10 after a couple of crashes there or whatever. We were strong and then we got caught out there on tires. We weren’t prepared with our tires for the race in the middle there so we had to circle around and we went a lap down. We fought back and that’s the big thing with this team. We had the depth and talent in the team to make good decisions, to learn from our mistakes during the race and improve towards the end. And we came back strong. We were great towards the end. We hope our races don’t have that lull or that hole in the middle but the more we learn the less it will happen.” HOW DIFFERENT HAS THE RACING BEEN IN THE BUSCH SERIES VERSUS THE CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES? “It’s obviously a step up. The competition’s deeper, there’s a lot more Cup drivers in it. When you’ve got 22 or 26 Cup drivers you’ve got your work cut out for you just to even look okay. So yes it is very tough and the Busch cars themselves are fun and great to drive. I’m really happy to be driving them. I feel like I’m comfortable behind the wheel but there is a performance level there that is definitely higher because you have less Raybestos Rookies. You have less genuine rookies and you’ve got drivers with lots of experience in the Busch Series all the way through the field.” IS IT GOOD THAT YOU ARE AROUND THAT KIND OF TALENT? “If I want to make a career out of the sport I’ve got to be around those guys. I’ve got to learn off them and already after running with them for a couple of races, I’m seeing what they’re doing, how they’re setting their cars up and how they’re approaching the races. It’s got to help you and I love to be exposed to that, even though it’s difficult to run with them I think it improves me. And you go to the next step and you look at the Cup guys when they get lifted up to Cup and they step back and then it’s easier to come back to a Busch deal. You’ve got to jump in the deep end otherwise you’re just never going to learn quick enough.” WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO YOU AND THIS TEAM TO WIN RAYBESTOS ROOKIE OF THE YEAR OVER JUAN PABLO MONTOYA AND DAVID RAGAN? “I’ve known Montoya and how much of a great drive he is. I’ve been following Juan in European racing and I’d love to whip his butt [laughs]. I really would. It’d be fantastic. But you can’t race against other rookies because there are so many people out there to race against. If we do a good job racing against the regulars the Raybestos Rookie deal will take care of itself. Am I focused on Ragan and Montoya and the other rookies? No, not at all, not even on the radar. What I’m looking for is to run strong top-10 and beat guys like Carl Edwards or Denny Hamlin on a good day. That’s what I’ll be proud of and that’s what I’m gunning for. I’m gunning for guys at the front because that’s what you have to aim for, otherwise you can forget about it. You won’t have a career for very long.” REALISTICALLY, CAN YOU WIN A RACE THIS SEASON? “No comment on that at all. The talent is so deep and I’m on such a learning curve. It just depends on me, whether I can keep learning, keep improving and keep getting better. I see a lot of weaknesses in my driving now as I’m racing against these guys and how I’ve got to pick it up in certain areas. It’s just experience and time. I’ve got to thank Kingsford Charcoal and the team for putting a rookie in their car because it is difficult for Raybestos Rookies in this game, especially the way the Busch Series is right now with so many Cup drivers in it. We’ve got to get the experience, get the time and hopefully I won’t run out of time [smiles].”