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March 1, 2010 8:38 AM

Ragan Finishes 23rd in Vegas in UPS Ford Fusion

Las Vegas, Nev. (February 28, 2010) – As it goes in Vegas, being dealt a good hand doesn’t always pan out in the end. Same went for David Ragan this weekend in Vegas and his UPS Ford. Ragan qualified 18th, well ahead of his average 36th-place qualifying position at the track, and had a car capable of finishing in the top 10 during the race. Long green-flag runs didn’t allow time to tweak on the handling as needed, and a fuel mishap mid-race cost valuable time on the track. An extra pit stop due to the incident put Ragan one lap down to the field. A caution never fell when Ragan was in the lucky dog position, resulting in a 23rd-place finish, while Jimmie Johnson won for the second weekend in a row.

In front of a sold out crowd at Las Vegas Motor Speedway the field took the green with Ragan sitting in the 18th position. Ragan dropped back a few spots on the track at the start and reported to crew chief Donnie Wingo that the UPS Ford was a little free on entry, exit and through the corners. The handling condition continued to worsen for Ragan, and the free condition continued and turned into also being aero loose behind other cars on the track. Help came from his crew on lap 47 when under caution Ragan could pit for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment.

Ragan restarted 23rd, but the free handling condition continued to plague him over the next run. The changes from the previous stop had helped, but he still needed more. Next up were green-flag stops. Wingo called for four tires, fuel, one round out of the left rear and a big air pressure adjustment. Ragan cycled through to come out 24th, when one lap later a caution came out when the teammates of Montoya and McMurray made contact on the track. Ragan reported the balance was neutral and in an attempt to gain track position Wingo called him down pit road for just two tires and fuel. Unfortunately most the field had the same idea and Ragan was only able to gain one spot on pit road.

Over the next green-flag run the car once again went back to handling too free. On lap 163 under green Ragan came in for scheduled service. Wingo gave him four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. As the gas man attempted to fuel the UPS Ford gas spilled backwards on him and all over pit road. Ragan was now at a disadvantage to the field since his UPS Ford wasn’t able to be packed full of fuel. Ragan had to come back in for an extra stop on lap 207 for four tires and fuel. The additional stop compared to the rest of the field put Ragan one lap down.

Ragan spent the rest of the race trying to put himself in position to be the lucky dog recipient. Just when he was a much-needed caution never came out. Ragan ultimately finished the race 23rd, one lap down to race winner Jimmie Johnson.

“We made improvements on our car, but our finishing result doesn’t show what kind of car that we had,” said Ragan. “Certainly pitting an extra time there under green definitely hurt us. We had a mishap there with the fuel and we couldn’t run as long as the other guys. We just basically had to make an extra stop and it’s just one of those deals that we’re certainly not happy with where we finished, but we made some progress. We brought back our UPS Ford in one piece, but we’ll have to continue to work on the particulars. We just need to get a full race in and run like we should. We’ve got some top-10 cars so we’ve just got to keep working.”

NEXT UP:
Kobalt Tools 500
1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway
Hampton, Ga.
Sunday, March 7, 2010

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