“Marcos Ambrose is the eighth Australian to enter an official NASCAR Championship event and was the first to complete an official NASCAR Championship season in 2006.

Ambrose is also one of two non-US citizens to win a NASCAR race, sharing that honour with former Formula One driver and Columbian Juan Pablo Montoya.

The legendary Frank Gardner was the first Australian to race in NASCAR’s premier Cup division, with one solitary race to his name in 1968. Tony Spanos was next in 1987, recording an 18th place finish in the Cup race at Martinsville. This result stood as the best by an Australian in a NASCAR Championship event for almost 20 years until Ambrose equaled it in 2006 at Milwaukee and then topped it a week later at Kansas with a remarkable third.

Allan Grice was next on the NASCAR scene, the former Bathurst 1000 winner running in the Coca Cola 600 Cup races at Charlotte in 1987 and 1989. Terry Byers also raced in the 1989 Coca Cola 600, the first of five Cup races Byers ran during 1989 and 1990.

Three-time Bathurst 1000 winner and five-time Australian Touring Car Champion Dick Johnson was next to try his hand on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, racing seven times from 1989-90. Johnson held the best qualifying result by an Australian for a NASCAR Championship event with 11th for the Banquet 300 at the Sears Point International road course on 11 June 1989 until 17 June 2006 when Ambrose qualified second in Michigan, that mark bettered by pole in Kentucky on 8 July 2006.

1993 Le Mans 24 Hour winner Geoff Brabham qualified for the inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994. The noted Sportscar and IndyCar driver was drafted in by Ford for the event, qualifying 18th of 59 cars attempting to qualify for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s first NASCAR event.

More recently former Australian karting and Speedcar (Midget) champion Adam Clarke raced twice in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2002.

Driver	Car	Event	Venue	Series	Date	Start	Finish	Laps	Status	Champ Pos at end of year
Frank Gardner	Ford	America 500	Rockingham Speedway	Cup (GN)	27-Oct-68	21	44	1/500	Engine (flagged)
Tony Spanos	Chevrolet	Sovran Bank 500	Martinsville Speedway	Cup	26-Apr-87	30	18	386/500	Running	109th in Winston Cup
Allan Grice	Oldsmobile	Coca Cola 600	Charlotte Motor Speedway	Cup	24-May-87	36	35	161/400	Rear End	116th in Winston Cup
	Pontiac	Coca Cola 600	Charlotte Motor Speedway	Cup	28-May-89	32	34	294/400	Engine	86th in Winston Cup
Terry Byers	Chevrolet	Coca Cola 600	Charlotte Motor Speedway	Cup	28-May-89	35	21	379/400	Running
		Miller HL 500	Pocono Raceway	Cup	18-Jun-89	35	19	197/200	Running
		AC S. Plug 500	Charlotte Motor Speedway	Cup	23-Jul-89	39	21	197/200	Running	49th in Winston Cup
	Pontiac	Coca Cola 600	Charlotte Motor Speedway	Cup	27-May-90	31	40	40/400	Engine
		Pepsi 400	Daytona International Speedway	Cup	7-Jul-90	39	40	1/160	Accident	103rd in Winston Cup
Dick Johnson	Ford	Banquet 300	Sears Point International Raceway	Cup	11-Jun-89	11	32	65/74	Running
		AC S. Plug 500	Pocono Raceway	Cup	23-Jul-89	37	22	196/200	Running
		DieHard 500	Talladega Superspeedway	Cup	30-Jul-89	35	24	182/188	Running
		Bud at Glen	Watkins Glen International	Cup	13-Aug-89	17	32	54/90	Accident	47th in Winston Cup
	Ford	TranSouth 500	Darlington International Raceway	Cup	1-Apr-90	39	34	95/367	Engine
		AC S.Plug 500	Pocono Raceway	Cup	22-Jul-90	32	39	4/200	Accident
		Bud at Glen	Watkins Glen International	Cup	12-Aug-90	15	27	67/90	Handling	63rd in Winston Cup
Geoff Brabham	Ford	Brickyard 400	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	Cup	6-Aug-94	18	38	127/160	Accident	77th in Winston Cup
Adam Clarke	Dodge	Virginia is for Lovers 250	Richmond International Raceway	Truck	5-Sep-02	15	23	197/200	Running
		John Boy & Billy's Hardee's 250	Big Daddy's South Boston Speedway	Truck	21-Sep-02	16	20	251/257	Running	82nd in Craftsman Truck Series

International drivers who have competed in the NASCAR Cup Series:

Driver Country Debut

* - Fifth-place finish by Rodriguez in 1965 World 600 at Charlotte was considered best finish by a foreign-born driver who was not an American citizen until Montoya and Ambrose scored victories
# - Ross was 1974 Cup Series Rookie of the Year
% - Smith is a four-time Busch Series champion

Source: NASCAR.com