LOUDON, N.H. – Marcos Ambrose is making an impact as a rookie in the Busch series. He is eighth in points thanks to three top-10 finishes in 18 races.

He is also the only Australian driver in the series.

How did he wind up in the series?

“That’s a good question. I was just a fan of the sport and I was driving for Ford for a lot of years [in Australia]. I made a few phone calls, met a few people and asked if I could come over [to the U.S.] and have a go. And, with the help of Ford, they made it possible,” said Ambrose.

He said auto racing is the fourth biggest sport in Australia and the primary series is a stock car series “which is a bit like this.”

Ambrose was involved in a wreck at the Camping World 200 at New Hampshire International Speedway and wound up finishing 30th.

But he has been happy with the team’s development.

“Today was a bad day but, in general, we’re doing really good. We’re in the top 10 in points. We’re finishing races and that’s what it’s all about.,” said Ambrose. “I’m learning and getting a bit better every week.”

Ambrose said he has a solid fan base in Australia that monitors his progress.

“A lot of fans e-mail us. Our Web site gets 40,000 hits a week from down there. There’s a lot of media interest. It’s going really well. We found our little niche here and I’m having a great time in the sport,” said Ambrose. “Hopefully, I can stick around a while.”

His eventual goal is to earn a ride in Nextel Cup.

“I don’t know when that’s going to happen, if that’s going to happen. But I’d love to get there one day,” said Ambrose.

He said he enjoyed NHIS.

“It’s a great track. We had a bad day so I’ve got bad memories of it just because the way the race ran. But it’s a beautiful track, a beautiful place up here in New Hampshire. I’m a big fan of the state,” said Ambrose.

‘Big step for Toyota’

Bill Davis, owner of Bill Davis Racing, provided Toyota with its first ever pole Friday when Dave Blaney posted a speed of 129.437 miles per hour.

“It’s a big step for Toyota and a big step for our team,” said Davis. “We’ve had fast cars and just really bad luck all year. So it’s good to get that behind us.”

He believes the Car Of Tomorrow is creating parity which will be advantageous to teams that may not have the resources of the high-end teams like Roush Racing and Hendrick Motorsports.

“I think it does for manufacturers and it does for teams,” Davis said. “Obviously, Hendrick is head and shoulders above everybody else with them. But they are in a lot of areas. We’ve been pretty happy with our COT program. We’ve had some really good cars. We ran real well at Bristol and at Martinsville. We’re happy with it.”

He said Toyota has been great to deal with.

“They’re wonderful. Right now, it’s a test of their patience. There’s some work that they have to do and I think they realize that. And they’re stepping up and doing it. They aren’t going to accept anything but success and neither are we.”

If Davis could change anything with the series, he said, “I think we have to have fewer changes. We’ve had too many changes. The fans have been assaulted with changes. It’s not that they’ve all been bad, it’s just too many changes. I think we’re on a pretty good course right now. I think the top-35 deal needs to be reconsidered. We’ve outgrown that. It’s time to do that differently.”

The top 35 drivers in owner points are automatically included in each field while the drivers outside the top 35 have to qualify on time.

Blaney began Sunday’s race 37th in owner points and teammate Jeremy Mayfield was 45th. Blaney finished 29th in the race.