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Early Race Incident Left Ragan Several Laps Down - Finishing 32nd at The Monster Mile |
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Dover, De. (September 22, 2007)
David Ragan fought his way to a less than perfect finish after the looseness of his race
car put him in the wall on lap five. Ragan qualified 17th for the RoadLoans.com 200 and
rolled off pit road around 3:45pm ET with the expectation of improving his position in
the top-five in points. Because of a series of rain showers that moved through earlier
in the day, the track was "green" for the start of the race, meaning all of the rubber
had washed away making conditions less than deal for the 200 lap competition. |
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Ragan immediately noticed that his Discount Tire Ford was loose in the corners, but
anticipated improvement once he got more laps on his tires. On the contrary, Ragan's
Ford Fusion only worsened as each lap passed. He was only able to hang on for a short
time before he lost control and made contact with the outside wall on lap five. |
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The Discount Tire pit crew headed to the garage area and began the scramble to repair the
damaged machine. After approximately 20-30 minutes of work, the No. 6 Discount Tire Ford
rolled back out on pit road. Ragan reentered the field in 43rd position and 45 laps down.
After getting several laps back under the green, Ragan radioed to crew chief Mike Kelley
that the car was handling pretty well, but was a little bouncy in the corners. |
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The No. 6 pit crew made several adjustments during pit stops to improve the handling of the
car. They also took the opportunity to try out some different things that could help Ragan
in Sunday's Dodge Dealers 400 or in future competitions at the track. |
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Ragan was able to battle his way back to 32nd position before crossing the finish line. |
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"This was definitely not the way we anticipated our day ending," said Ragan. "I hate that
I tore up a race car and put us so many laps down, and it really stinks that it happened
so early in the race. This team has been working hard this year and we have been able to
maintain our top-five position in points for quite a while now. We made the best of our
situation today, all things considered, and all we can do now is concentrate on Kansas
and do our best to redeem ourselves next week." |
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Ragan is currently fifth in the NASCAR Busch Series point standings and is leading the
Raybestos Rookie of the Year race. |
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Ragan will compete next in the Yellow Transportation 300 at Kansas Speedway on September 29th. |
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About Roush Fenway Racing
Roush Fenway Racing is NASCAR's largest team operating 13 motorsports teams,
five in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup with drivers Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle,
Carl Edwards and David Ragan; five in the Busch Series with Kenseth, Biffle,
Edwards, McMurray, Ragan, Todd Kluever, Michel Jourdain Jr. and Danny O'Quinn Jr.;
and three in the Craftsman Truck Series with Edwards, Peter Shepherd, Travis Kvapil
and Erik Darnell. For more information on any of the Roush Fenway Racing teams, log onto
www.RoushFenway.com.
For sponsorship inquiries please contact Robin Johnson at 704.720.4645. |
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DTC Motorsports Home for the Latest Racing News |
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