The Sprint Cup Series needs to throw some shrimp on the barby, as Australian-native Marcos Ambrose will be movin' on up to NASCAR's top division for a full-time ride in 2009.

And yes, I promise I'm done with Australian generalizations.

Ambrose will make the move into Sprint Cup with JTG Daugherty Racing -- a partnership between Marcos' current Nationwide Series team (JTG) and ESPN analyst/former NBA player Brad Daugherty. The partnership will continue to field two Nationwide teams in addition to the newly-created Sprint Cup team.

I'm stoked to have Ambrose in the Sprint Cup series because the guy has pure talent. He's a two-time champion of Australia's V8 Supercar Series, and apparently did it in quite an impressive manner as he won in them in a Ford for the manufacturer's first titles in nearly 20 years. From what I gather, the guy is quite heralded in Australia -- nearly to the level of Dale Earnhardt Jr. here in the States.

Ambrose has one Sprint Cup start under his belt coming from last month's road course race at Infineon Raceway. He raced in the Top-5 for much of the race until transmission troubles knocked him to a 42nd-place finish. More importantly though, he didn't back down from on-track skirmishes and made a few folks mad at him -- something NASCAR needs more of.


Ambrose, 31, has two career Top-5's in the Nationwide Series and runs 13th in the point standings at the moment. He finished 15th last weekend at Chicagoland.

I do kind of worry, though, about how well Ambrose can compete with JTG Daugherty Racing in 2009. He'll be driving the No. 47 Little Debbie Ford, but won't have any teammates and doesn't appear to have any major affiliation with any big race teams on the Sprint Cup circuit.

He is starting with sponsorship, has a fun personality, and is gritty racer when it comes down to it -- all of which should help him. Best of luck, Mr. Ambrose!