DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- When he was racing V-8 Supercars in his native Australia and winning a couple championships, Marcos Ambrose was a bona fide, take-no-prisoners tough guy on the race track.

But at the same time, and as he's segued into an equally legitimate threat to win NASCAR races virtually on a weekly basis, Ambrose has displayed an adept brand of Aussie humor.

“

This is an insane life. It's not normal. We're in the spotlight all the time, we're racing for millions of dollars and there's hundreds of thousands of fans turning up. For me, it's all a bit surreal. So I had to get away to get a perspective on things.

”

-- MARCOS AMBROSE

It's a good thing, because for this weekend's Daytona 500 -- which happens to fall on Valentine's Day -- Ambrose will be wheeling a red-and-white No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Toyota.

But the "red" is in the form of roses by virtue of the team's sponsorship from Kroger -- allegedly the world's largest florist.

Let the jokes begin. And Ambrose might be the ringleader at Sunday's driver introductions.

"I'm definitely tough enough to be able to carry roses on the side of the car," Ambrose said, laughing while wearing a virtually trademarked grin. "It takes a real man to be able to race a race car with red roses on it, so I'm looking forward to it -- we're going to have fun with it.

"I'm pretty laid-back and I like having a joke on myself as much as anybody. Hopefully it's going to help my mechanics have good Valentine's Days as well, because we've got plenty of roses to go around, and the wives and girlfriends will appreciate that.

"It's a unique sponsorship and I know it's helped me, because my wife's 14,000 miles away [in Tasmania], so sending roses down home has helped me a lot."

Aside from contemplating crossing that pre-race stage with a rose in his teeth, or possibly trying to get his competitors off-balance by giving them roses in the pre-race area, Ambrose is ready to continue on the accelerated plan since he came to the United States as a Ford-supported, two-time V-8 Supercar champion.

Ironically, a few weeks before Speedweeks he was at nearby New Smyrna Speedway for a test session when a visitor reminded him of a chilly night four years ago when Ambrose and his Wood Brothers Racing Truck Series crew chief John Monsam had watched the action from behind the backstretch.

Ambrose had yet to make his first NASCAR start. And now, with 22 Truck Series races and 72 Nationwide starts -- including two wins on his resume -- what this season demands is coming into focus.

Specifically, Ambrose needs to take another giant step forward. But he looks in position to do it. (Continued)