Pit Road Penalty Results in a 22nd-Place Finish For Ragan in Martinsville
October 25, 200911:00 PM
Martinsville, Va. (October 25, 2009) – With the 2009 season winding down, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series headed to Martinsville, Virginia for another rainy weekend of racing action. Martinsville is a challenging half-mile track with exciting racing action and Sunday’s 500-lap event did not disappoint. From his 14th place starting position, Ragan held his own with a fast UPS Ford, but a penalty on pit road cost him valuable track position. Ragan spent the rest of the race adjusting the handling on his UPS Ford and trying to put himself in position to be the “lucky dog” recipient. Unfortunately, the caution flags never flew at the right time, and Ragan ultimately ended the race 22nd; one lap down to race winner Denny Hamlin.
Friday morning saw rain showers in the Martinsville area, but the weather passed by, and cut down Cup series practice to an hour, but still allowing the field to qualify. Ragan made his way around the short track is just 19.76 seconds, fast enough for a 14th-place starting position. The rains returned Saturday washing out all on-track activity, leaving everyone to head into the race with only their brief practice session on Friday morning.
Under dry, clear skies the field took the green flag Sunday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway. Ragan started 14th with a car that started off neutral, but began to develop a “tight in the middle and loose off” handling condition. The handling issues cost Ragan a few spots on the track and he dropped back to 20th when the second caution of the day was displayed. Ragan pitted for four tires, fuel, air and right-side wedge adjustments.
The next stretch of the race saw Ragan on pit road three times for similar adjustments while the handling woes continued. When the caution was displayed on lap 176, the top ten cars opted to pit, putting Ragan up to ninth for the restart. Over the next 20 laps, Ragan held his ground until the UPS Ford began to loose forward bite and Ragan began to lose track position. While back in the 20th position Ragan pitted under caution for four tires, fuel, air and a track bar adjustment. A mistake on the pit stop by the front tire carrier caused NASCAR to issue a penalty to the No. 6 team. The carrier “rolled” the tire instead of carrying it around the front of the car, resulting in a tail end of the field penalty.
Ragan found himself in the back of the field struggling to make up lost position. Handling issues and traffic caused the leaders to catch him on lap 357 and put him a lap down. Ragan did all he could to try and get into position to be the “lucky dog,” but never was in the right spot at the right time. Ragan took the green-white-checkered finish one lap down, and ultimately ended his day in the 22nd-position.
“After we had that penalty we lost all of our track position,” said Ragan. “I felt like our UPS Ford was a top-10 or top-15 car today. It was really good on the long run, but we just didn’t have enough of those long runs the first part of the race. It was unfortunate to get that penalty and have to go to the back of the field. From there, it was just real hard to pass and get any good track position. All in all, we finished and it was pretty exciting at the end with all of the beatin’ and bangin’ going on between everyone. But we’ll learn from today’s race and move on to next weekend.”
NEXT UP:
Amp Energy 500
2.5-miles Talladega Superspeedway
Talladega, Als.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
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