For Woods, one race at The Glen offers glimpse of hope

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- They were all clustered around the white pit box at the far end of pit road, men in corporate-branded golf shirts, officers in Air Force uniforms, curious onlookers and guests. Everyone was glued to the television set, watching the cars navigate the hinterlands of Watkins Glen International, cheering and clapping each time it looked like Marcos Ambrose might gain a spot. When the Australian driver crossed the finish line in third, there were high-fives, handshakes, and the kind of clenching hugs that brim with emotion.

This is why the Wood Brothers keep coming back, despite all the heartbreak and disappointment that have plagued this once-great organization. This is why, after missing the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard and being rained out of Bristol and California and going seven years without a victory and plummeting in the owner points like a rock dropped into a river, they keep rolling out that No. 21 car week after week after week. All on the chance that the pieces will fall into place and the red and white Ford will return to that position near the front of the field that the Woods held for so long.

"This is why you do this," team co-owner Eddie Wood said after Ambrose's third-place finish, the best for the Woods since Ricky Rudd finished second on another road course, Infineon Raceway, in 2005. "This is why you keep on doing this. There's just enough good in it. You get so frustrated week to week, with things going wrong, and nothing seems to go right, and all of the sudden it falls into place. That's what it's all about. This can be fun."

This year hasn't been much fun for the Wood Brothers, one of NASCAR's elite teams from the '50s through the '70s, but now a struggling single-car operation without a victory since Elliott Sadler won at Bristol in 2001. They failed to make the Daytona 500 for the first time since 1960, a year they didn't attempt to qualify. They failed to qualify at Indianapolis for the first time. They've missed six races total, and are so buried in owner points that Sunday's effort only moved them up one position. Reality sets in Friday at Michigan International Speedway, when the No. 21 car, still 42nd in the standings, must again qualify on speed.

But Sunday wasn't about points. "I haven't even thought about the points," Wood said. "I haven't even thought of them. Just a good, solid run like that is what we needed. We've been struggling for so long. We've made some changes in the last couple of weeks, and things are just starting to come together. Marcos has done one heck of a job."

Centurion at The Glen

Official Results

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Kyle Busch	Toyota
2.	Tony Stewart	Toyota
3.	Marcos Ambrose	Ford
4.	Juan Montoya	Dodge
5.	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet
6.	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet
7.	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet
8.	Denny Hamlin	Toyota
9.	Carl Edwards	Ford
10.	Kurt Busch	Dodge

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He surely did Sunday, starting at the back of the field due to a qualifying rainout, in a car that was fastest in the first of the weekend's two practice sessions. He used every bit of car he could to get to the front, abusing his brakes, damaging the clutch so badly that he was worried about restarting the vehicle after a 43-minute red flag. On the final lap, he peeked around eventual second-place finisher Tony Stewart at the entrance to the bus stop chicane. He wanted to make the move, to take the position, to make the day a little bit better. Reason prevailed over emotion, and Ambrose dropped back in line.

"I wanted him bad," Ambrose said after making just his third Sprint Cup start. "I wasn't going to do it unless I was 100 percent sure it was going to be clean. He's in the top 12 in points, and I want to look after those guys. I don't want to do the wrong thing."

Had Ambrose been able to qualify and start the day with better track position, he would have been a serious threat to win. His car was better on the long runs, and the final restart with five laps to go -- prompted by a massive nine-car accident that blocked the frontstretch and damaged two wall barriers -- didn't give him enough time to mount a real challenge to Stewart or winner Kyle Busch. But Sunday, after all the Wood Brothers have been through, third place seemed good enough for all involved.

"I hope it gives them the shot in the arm to keep moving forward," said Ambrose, who came to America three years ago after starring in the V8 Supercar series, an Australian road course circuit. "They've had a tough time of it. They're 43rd in points, and they need to get some momentum going. Hopefully this will help them. I'm not the answer. I'm a road racer. I'm trying to be a good oval racer, too. But they gave me a great piece, everything I asked for."

For the Woods, the hope is that the success they experienced Sunday will translate into improvement in future races and on oval courses. Ambrose also drove the No. 21 in this year's first road course event in Sonoma, a race in which he qualified seventh and finished next to last after losing the gearbox and getting into a crash. Since then, David Hyder has come aboard as crew chief, and the Woods have made changes in the way they build their cars. There's cautious optimism that the Watkins Glen run was an extension of last week's 20th-place result at Pocono, a modest season-best at the time.

Wood Brothers will bring that Pocono car, one of only two rebuilt ones currently in their stable, to Michigan next week. Bill Elliott will likely be behind the wheel. Despite the tough times, Eddie Wood said sponsors Little Debbie, Motorcraft, and the Air Force haven't wavered in their support, something that was evident in the celebratory scene surrounding the team's pit box Sunday afternoon. They're still a long, long way from turning the corner. But one race at least reminded this franchise what it feels like to be around the bend.

"Maybe," Wood said, smiling, "there is a future for us in this."

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer