Dewalt makes it's 2013 NASCAR debut at Phoenix for Richard Petty Motorsports

Marcos Ambrose will travel West to the Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway this weekend. The Launceston, Australia native will look to better his season opening 18th-place finish in the Daytona 500 at the one-mile track in his No. 9 DEWALT Ford Fusion.

"I'm really looking forward to racing at Phoenix this weekend. It's a lot different to go from a superspeedway to a short track, but I'm ready to have the opportunity to control more of our fate this weekend. I feel good about it too, because we have found success at Phoenix in the past. We just need to make sure that we are prepared with the new Ford Fusions," stated Ambrose. "This will be the first race with DEWALT on the car this season. The new cars look great, they did well in Daytona, but we're all going to learn a lot more this weekend. This is a different animal than the racing we saw in Daytona. We will have to work hard to be prepared for Sunday's race."

Ambrose will make his 10th start at Phoenix in Sunday's Subway Fresh Fit 500. His best finish is an eighth-place finish in the fall of 2011 with the No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports team. He also has four top-15 finishes at the track.

"We had hoped for a better finish at Daytona but were glad to finish the race in one piece. We kind of look at Phoenix as the first race of the season as far as being able to tell what everyone has. I'm looking forward to seeing how the RPM Gen-6 cars perform on a mile track. It will help us to see what we need to work on for our short track program. We tested at Charlotte and are happy with our intermediate program and are hoping for the same this weekend," added Crew Chief Drew Blickensderfer.

The No. 9 team has prepared chassis No. 838 for Phoenix. This is a new chassis that the team built in the off-season.

Fans can catch the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway on Sunday, March 3 at 3:00 p.m. ET. The race will be broadcast on FOX and MRN/SiriusXM 90.

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, West Palm Beach Motorsports Examiner

Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway nearly 30 years ago. He has had the privelage of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for...

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