Richard Petty Motorsports announced Saturday morning at Chicagoland Speedway that Marcos Ambrose will not return to the organization’s No. 9 Ford next season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
Ambrose, a two-time champion of Australia’s V8 Supercar Series, has been widely speculated over the past few months to be considering a move back to Australia next year to possibly return to the V8 Supercar Series in a car fielded by legendary NASCAR and IndyCar team owner Roger Penske.
“Today’s not the day to talk about anything about my racing future,” Ambrose said Saturday morning in the Chicagoland Speedway garage, a few minutes after the announcement of his plans to leave RPM. “I just feel like personally this is the right choice for myself and my family to call it a day here in the U.S. and move on to our next chapter.”
Ambrose joined RPM in 2011 and has a pair of Sprint Cup victories, which both came on the road course at Watkins Glen in 2011 and 2012, respectively.
Ambrose narrowly missed winning again at Watkins Glen this year, finishing second after a thrilling late-race battle with eventual winner AJ Allmendinger. But that left Ambrose out of this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup, and he is 23rd in the standings entering Sunday’s race at Chicagoland Speedway.
“I never thought that I’d achieve what I have done,” Ambrose said of his time in NASCAR. “I’ve made it to the Sprint Cup level and I’ve survived here for a number of years and I’ve had some wins — haven’t had enough. I was up against it early on just from my background. I haven’t come from oval racing; I’ve come from a country that doesn’t have any asphalt oval racing at all, and so I feel like I achieved a lot, and I’m really satisfied.”
Ambrose said his decision to move on was made “some time ago,” and that Richard Petty Motorsports officials didn’t try to convince him to stay. He added that making this year’s Chase — a real possibility with the new “win-and-you’re-in” format — wouldn’t have changed his mind.
“Marcos will always be a part of our extended racing family,” said seven-time Sprint Cup champion Richard Petty, the co-owner of Richard Petty Motorsports. “He came over to the United States with his family and dedicated his time here to giving it the best he had each week. I couldn’t ask anything more from Marcos and his commitment on and off the track to our race team and our partners.
“Away from the track, he’s a family person first. That’s something I respect, and we’ll miss Marcos, (wife) Sonja and their children.”
Ford Racing director Jamie Allison echoed Petty’s sentiment.
“Marcos is family to all of us at Ford,” Allison said. “He is a true racer and a Ford man through and through, from racing in V8 SuperCars to NASCAR. We support Marcos and his personal decision to go home to Australia. We hope to celebrate together with him in Victory Lane before the end of the year and add to several memorable and exciting victories he has had with RPM here in NASCAR.”
As for who his successor in the No. 9 might be, Ambrose didn’t want to speculate on Saturday.
“I’ve got no idea who they’re going to choose; I’m sure they’re going to choose wisely,” Ambrose said. “If they ask my opinion, I’ll give it to them, but that’s not my world.”
Ambrose admitted that leaving NASCAR is bittersweet. So what part of the sport will he miss the most?
“The competition and the intensity,” he said. “It’s a very intense world. I love racing. I came here because there was so much racing and the level was really high, and I’ll miss that.”
