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Tap From Behind Ends Solid Run For Ragan at Infineon

Sonoma, Calif. (June 21, 2009) – With his lack of road course experience, David Ragan felt confident that he could hang with the veterans with his UPS Ford at Sonoma..  After two previous ventures at Infineon Raceway, Ragan and crew figured their third start would be the charm.  Ragan had already spent part of 2009 testing Infineon, and other road courses, in an effort to improve his road racing skills, and the hard work paid off.  Ragan had a top 10 car in practice, but got loose on his qualifying lap which forced him to start in the back of the field.  Pit strategy coupled with improved road course skills put Ragan in the top 10 most of the race, but a solid top-10 finish vanished before Ragan’s eyes when with nine laps to go, he got bumped from behind.  The contact sent Ragan into the car outside him and spinning off the track.  By the time Ragan got the UPS Ford going forward again he was passed by a majority of the field.  With so few laps remaining he did the best he could to make up the lost track position, but had to settle for a 33rd-place finish.

With only two full seasons of Cup racing under his belt road courses have not been Ragan’s strong point, but Ragan proved the critics wrong Sunday by showing he’s got what it takes to get around a road course.  Ragan has been dedicated to improving his skills. Multiple tests at Road Atlanta, and even flying all the way out to Sonoma to make some laps in a late model, have made Ragan more comfortable behind the wheel at a road course.  This weekend in Sonoma proved he can hang with the veterans.

In three practice sessions at the 1.99-mile road course Ragan found himself more comfortable around the course and consistently making laps in the top 15 on the speed charts.  When it came time to qualify, Ragan got a little too much out of his UPS Ford and got loose.  The mishap cost his qualifying time and resulted in a 40th-place starting position.  Track position is important at road courses, but fuel mileage always tends to be a key factor as well.

From the back of the field Ragan slowly, but steadily, began to advance through the field.  By the time the first caution flew on lap 20 he was up to 30th.  Ragan told crew chief Jimmy Fennig he needed more forward bite.  Fennig called Ragan down pit road under caution for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment.  Strategy is what will win or lose a race at a road course, and half the field opted not to pit for fuel or adjustments that early in the race. 

Ragan restarted 28th on lap 25 and was up to fifth by lap 42 as the cars ahead of him came down pit road under green.  With the field stretched out Fennig instructed Ragan to “save fuel.”  The second caution of the day came on lap 53 for debris on the track.  Ragan was still in the top 10 and the car was handling well, so Fennig left Ragan on the track.  It wasn’t until lap 65 under green that Ragan came down pit road for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment.  The name of the game was fuel conservation, so Fennig instructed Ragan to run hard for 10 laps then go back to conserving fuel. 

The third caution came out on lap 77 with Ragan running 19th due to the prior pit stop.  Fennig once again reminded Ragan to save fuel since according to their calculations they would fall one lap short on fuel.  When the field went back to green flag racing, the different pit strategies played out and Ragan cycled back up towards the front, running inside the top 10.  Two more cautions coupled with long green flag runs gave Ragan an opportunity to conserve fuel and make up the one lap they were going to be short. 

Unfortunately, while running 11th on lap 101, Ragan was tapped from behind in Turn 7 by teammate Carl Edwards.  The contact sent Ragan into the No. 88 and spinning off the track.  Ragan straightened out the UPS Ford as quickly has he could, but had already lost valuable track position.  Ragan dropped from 11th to 34th.  A late-race caution set the field up for a green-white-checker finish and with nothing to lose, Ragan pitted for four fresh tiers and fuel.  The last effort didn’t help, the spin came to late in the race and cost Ragan to much track position.  Ragan finished 33rd, while Kasey Kahne won the SaveMart 350.

“It was a bad end to the day of what could have been a great run,” said Ragan.  “Still, I have a lot of confidence going to New Hampshire, but that just seems to be the way our season has been.  We haven’t had a lot of good luck.  It’s just tough to run up front all day and get caught, but you know that stuff is going to happen.  It’s usually a pretty good cycle and we’ll be on the good end of it one day, but its par for the course this year.  We haven’t had a lot of good luck thrown our way.  We were going pretty good on the restarts and Harvick squeezed us just a little and I ran my left-side tires out in the dirt.  I lost two or three spots, which that’s just racing, and then Carl got into the back of us and we spun it out.  We came and got four tires and then the green-white-checkered people were running through the course, over the grass, over the curbs, it was just crazy.  We just brought it back home in one piece and I’m proud we finished.”

NEXT UP:
Lenox Industrial Tools 301
1.058-mile New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Loudon, N.H.
Sunday, June 28, 2009

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