Michigan: Marcos Ambrose preview

Three days, three different venues, three different oval track disciplines.

Marcos Ambrose has kept himself sharp for this weekend's round of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Michigan International Speedway with a rigorous schedule behind the wheel of a variety of different machines.

Starting on Wednesday night, Ambrose took part in the Prelude to the Dream charity Dirt Late Model race at Eldora Speedway, where he finished a credible 15th in the final against an all-star field, after starting from the 20th position.

The team's event was taken out by Jimmie Johnson, who was racing for the Levine Children's Hospital alongside Ambrose.

Thursday sees Ambrose participating in a test session of a winged V8 Sprintcar at Fremont Speedway, before he heads to Michigan on Friday for practice and qualifying for the Helluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400.

Tutoring Ambrose through his dirt track initiation is his regular NASCAR crew chief Frank Kerr.

Kerr, who is a multiple champion at both Eldora and Fremont Speedways, is ready to join Ambrose back behind the wheel to take in some hot laps around the 530 metre long clay oval in the Sprintcars.

"Marcos, Trevor Bayne and I went last year and we really had a blast thanks to a few teams who provided cars for us," Kerr said.

"Fremont is very dear to me and my family; it's where I spent many years racing. It's a pretty special place and it means a lot that Marcos is going back there with me."

On Friday it is back to business as usual as Marcos returns to familiar paved surrounds at Michigan, with the number 47 Toyota Camry wearing Clorox colours for the 15th event on the NASCAR Sprint Cup calendar.

"Michigan hasn't been good to us," Ambrose said.

"We're taking a brand new car this time.

"We've ran decent there before, but the results do not show our performance, but we're looking to change that this weekend."

"We've had so much bad luck this year, but we feel like good things are around the corner," Kerr added.

"Unfortunately, this bad luck goes all the way back to Homestead-Miami Speedway when Marcos broke a mirror during practice.

"He passed Jimmie Johnson for the lead there and was pulling away when the car broke.

"We keep teasing him and telling him that the bad luck is all his fault because he broke the mirror. Hopefully, there won't be seven years of it."

Qualifying and the final Happy Hour practice session from Michigan will be broadcast on One HD over the weekend, with the race shown live on Monday morning on Fox Sports 2.

-source: marcos ambrose PR