DAVID RAGAN - RACE RECAP
Aaron's 499 - Talladega, AL - April 29, 2007
Started 10th/Finished 19th

RAGAN FINISHES IN TOP-20 AFTER LEADING FIRST LAPS OF THE SEASON AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY

TALLADEGA, AL (April 29, 2007) – David Ragan and the No. 6 AAA Travel Team predicted a victorious weekend when they brought their top-five finishing superspeedway Ford to the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. After running fourth in the final practice session, Ragan made his qualifying attempt. His fastest lap time was 50.296 seconds (190.393 mph), locking him into the 10th place starting position. It was Ragan’s best starting position of the season.

The 188-lap race got underway just after 1:00pm CDT and within the first few laps the three- and four-wide racing began. Ragan, who quickly gained a few positions, was able to maintain a top-10 position throughout the first 30 laps of the race.

The AAA Travel Ford Fusion was one of the fastest cars on the race track so Ragan did not initially struggle to final help in the draft. However, he did struggle to maintain help as other cars in the field improved. When it came time to make the first pit stop of the day Ragan was forced to come in under the green flag. The AAA pit crew gave him four tires and fuel, but Ragan had some difficulty with traffic entering pit road so he reentered the field in 38th position.

Thirty laps later Ragan came back down pit road, this time under the yellow flag for new tires and fuel once again. He gained eight positions and was running in 27th position when the green flag dropped again on lap 77.

The field went under caution again on lap 81, when No. 07 car made contact with the outside wall. Ragan once again came into the pits, but this time only to top off the fuel tank allowing him to again another eight positions on pit road.

The No.6 AAA Ford ran throughout the top-30 until Ragan was able to work his way back into the draft. On lap 116 he moved into 2nd place and was running side-by-side with the No. 24 driven by Jeff Gordon.

Gordon ultimately won the battle, but Ragan continued to maintain his position near the front. Soon, however, he lost his drafting help and dropped back once again to a top-30 position.

On lap 130 the yellow flag flew when several cars wrecked coming off of the turn. When the rest of the field headed down pit road Ragan and the No. 6 AAA team opted to stay out. The track went green six laps later and the excellent pit strategy allowed Ragan to lead his first lap of his NASCAR NEXTEL Cup career.

Unfortunately, Ragan’s time in the spotlight of the front row was short lived. Ragan quickly lost drafting help once again sending him back to 20th position by lap 141.

Pit strategy came into play yet again for the No. 6 AAA Travel team when a caution came on lap 161 and the majority of the field pitted. This majority did not include Ragan who moved up to seventh position. He was able to maintain his top-10 spot throughout the closing laps of the race; however they would be cutting it close on fuel, as were many other teams.

When a caution came out on lap 184 due to oil on the track, Ragan was running in 12th position. The green flag dropped once again and it looked like Ragan was going to make it home with just enough fuel when suddenly cars began wrecking ahead of him causing yet another caution.

Circumstances allowed for an extra-distance, “green, white, checker” finish and Ragan was running extremely low on fuel at this point. As soon as the green flag dropped for the final restart of the day, Ragan felt the motor sputter and he began to lose positions.

There was trouble ahead on the track, but with only one attempt at a green, white, checker finish the race was declared complete and Jeff Gordon headed to victory lane.

Ragan, who ran on fumes just to get back around to pit road, finished 17th as the highest finishing Raybestos Rookie contender.

“When I was in the middle, man, that thing was hot,” said Ragan, “and there for the middle part of the race I’d have to just drop back a little bit. They pulled a little bit of tape off there at the end, which allowed me to race a little harder. We had a great, strong car all day and I had a lot of fun.”

Ragan continues, “Nobody wants to hang with you there at the end. We had a strong enough car where, if we would have been in the right position, we could have won the race. We’ll take it. It’s a finish. We’ve got to keep working on our program here, but at least it’s in the right direction”

Ragan is currently 26th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup championship point standings and 2nd in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year race.

Ragan will compete next at Richmond International Raceway in the Crown Royal Jim Stewart 400 on May 5th at 7:00pm EST on Fox and MRN.