Ambrose aiming for Watkins Glen trifecta

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - The Nationwide Series will join Sprint Cup this weekend at Watkins Glen International. This will be the second of three road course races for Nationwide this year.

Carl Edwards won the inaugural event at the Road America road course in Wisconsin two months ago. Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal is scheduled for August 29.

Marcos Ambrose will attempt to win his third consecutive Nationwide race at Watkins Glen. If Ambrose does so, he will join Terry Labonte as those drivers who have won three Nationwide events in a row here. Labonte won at The Glen from 1994-96. He also scored the victory in the inaugural race here in 1991.

Ambrose, a Sprint Cup regular, has yet to compete in a Nationwide event this year. He ran a full-schedule in that series from 2007-08 before he was elevated to Cup full-time last year.

Ambrose competed in just two Nationwide races during the '09 season, with a win at Watkins Glen and a second-place finish at Montreal.

"I've got a good base setup that I carry to all the road course races, and I really know what I'm looking for," Ambrose said. "We don't have to muck around with trial and error, and I pretty much engineer it from the seat, because I have such a clear vision of what I need to do to get around these places well. I guess I lacked that at some ovals and other places we go to."

Kyle Busch is perhaps Ambrose's biggest threat for a three-peat at Watkins Glen. Busch has accumulated nine wins in his 17 Nationwide starts this year, including victories at Iowa last Saturday and O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis the week before. He is one win away from tying the series record for most victories in a season with 10, a record he shares with Sam Ard.

One more win in either the Sprint Cup, Nationwide or Camping World Series will give the 25-year-old Busch his 75th career victory in NASCAR.

"It's pretty big," Busch said. "It's a lot of them, but it's not quite where I want to be. The big number is 200, so hopefully I can get there. We're 25 away from cracking halfway there, and I might be able to get it here in the next two years, so that would be pretty cool."

Richard Petty holds the all-time record with 200 wins in NASCAR's premier series.

Busch has finished second to Ambrose in the last two Nationwide races at Watkins Glen.

Last year, Ambrose passed Busch late in the race, with a maneuver Ambrose called a "dive bomb," and one Busch referred to as "cheap-shotted."

Forty-two teams are on the preliminary entry list for the Zippo 200.

Zippo 200

Series: NASCAR Nationwide.

Date: Saturday, Aug. 7.

Start time: 2 p.m. (et).

Site: Watkins Glen International.

Track: 2.45-mile road course.

Laps: 82. Miles: 200.9. 2009 winner: Marcos Ambrose. Television: ESPN. Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN)/SIRIUS NASCAR Radio.