Marcos Ambrose has dealt with adversity at Infineon Raceway before. Three years ago in his first Cup start, he ran as high as second before a crash not of his own making relegated him to a 42nd-place finish. Last season he blew an engine in the first practice Saturday, ran into Jimmie Johnson in the second, started at the rear of the field and yet somehow managed to finish third.

But this ... this is something altogether different.

“

Sure, my confidence has been hit, our team confidence has been hit. We had a breakout season last year. We always were trying to keep in check the expectation, because we knew that 2010 was going to be a challenge ... but that being said, we definitely haven't performed to our own expectations.

”

-- MARCOS AMBROSE

"You know, when you have a bad period like we've been through, you've got to get out of that hole before you can breathe," said Ambrose, the former V-8 Supercar driver who drives the No. 47 for Daugherty/JTG Racing. "So our goal now is to start gaining momentum, start getting consistency, start stringing up those top-10s, and hopefully then we can get back on track."

After a breakthrough 18th-place finish in final points last year that gave Ambrose hopes of Chase contention this season, the affable Australian has found himself mired in a miserable 2010 campaign plagued by crashes and failures and even a 50-point penalty for an unapproved radiator pan. The net result is a 30th-place standing that has the former road course specialist coming to Sonoma, Calif., hoping not to enhance his postseason aspirations, but rather to simply build some sorely-needed forward momentum.

He'll be in the right place. Ambrose notched top-three finishes in both Cup road course events last season, and has won Nationwide races at Watkins Glen two years in a row. When practice on the 12-turn Infineon course in California's wine country begins Friday, Ambrose expects to be in the top 10.

"I think a race like Sonoma this weekend, I'll be breathing a little easier knowing that it's my forte," he said. "It's what I've grown up doing. I should have as good a chance of any of running at the front. Anytime I've been there, I've run at the front both years I've attempted the race. We've done a lot of practice, lot of research on the car, we've done a lot of development. Fingers crossed, it's going to work out."

He could use the boost. After posting seven top-10s last season, when he effectively shed his road-course reputation and became more of an all-around threat on the Cup circuit, Ambrose has only one this year, at Richmond in May. He suffered setbacks in the season's first two races, when engine failure knocked him out at Daytona and overheating doomed him at Fontana. Since the change from the wing to the spoiler, it's been an effort to keep the car pointed in the right direction -- Ambrose has crashed out of four of his past seven starts, sometimes wrecking multiple times in the same event.

Ambrose, whose team is affiliated with Michael Waltrip Racing, saw a glimmer of hope in last week's 15th-place run at Michigan. Right now, he'll take what he can get.

"Sure, my confidence has been hit, our team confidence has been hit. We had a breakout season last year. We always were trying to keep in check the expectation, because we knew that 2010 was going to be a challenge just knowing our position for a single-car team, getting constant support from Michael Waltrip Racing. So we feel ... that we have the troubles of every independent team that's trying to run out there on the race track against super teams," Ambrose said.

"So we've wanted to keep everything in check. But that being said, we definitely haven't performed to our own expectations. And last week was good. We finished [15th] after some early problems, and that hopefully will leapfrog us into a good weekend at Sonoma, and if we can finally get back up into the front, it might start us on a roll and get the confidence back we need as a team."

Entering this season, Ambrose's goal was to contend for the Chase and try to win a race, ambitions that have appeared more and more out of reach as the season has slogged on. To a certain degree, the experience has led Ambrose to question himself, to ask internal questions about whether he's lost his focus or his touch behind the wheel. But there's also a team to worry about, one that's clearly had its confidence shaken in the wake of such unexpected trials.

"Like any sportsman, I'm pretty stubborn, and I feel I'm applying myself the best I can," Ambrose said. "We've just had a rotten time of it, and we'll bounce back from it. So I guess I worry for my teammates and my team personnel more than I do about my own confidence."