DavidRagan – Race Recap
Auto Club 500-Fontana, CA/ February 25, 2007
Started 39th / Finished 16th

DAVID RAGAN TOP FINISHING RAYBESTOS ROOKIE IN AUTO CLUB 500

FONTANA, CA (February 25, 2007) – David Ragan rolled off pit road in 39th position for the start of the Auto Club 500. By lap 20 the third caution flag of the day flew when Ragan spun coming out of turn two. He spun by himself saving the No.6 AAA Ford from making contact with the wall.

Once Ragan exited the pits with four new tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment to help with the freeness of his No. 6 machine, he began to make up some ground. By the time he came into the pits again on lap 55 he was in 15th position.

Ragan remained in the top-20 throughout the remainder of the race. During the third and fourth pit stops of the day minor air pressure adjustments were made to help with the looseness of the No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion.

Ragan consistently experienced the same results after each pit stop: freeness for the first eight to ten laps then a fairly neutral race car from that point on.

By lap 157 Ragan had worked his way up to 10th place, but was forced to pit under the green flag on lap 160 which set him back in 19th position by the time he reentered the field.

The No. 6 AAA pit crew brought Ragan down pit road once more under the green flag on lap 199 at which point the track had remained green for nearly 80 laps.

Ragan radioed to crew chief, Jimmy Fennig prior to the stop to let him know that the car was a little snug on exit, but neutral getting into the corners.

Fennig ordered four tires, fuel and a half a pound of air added to the right rear tire. Ragan reentered the field in 19th position and on lap 202 went a lap down when the leader passed him on the front stretch.

The caution flag finally flew on lap 225 after 100 straight green fag laps had been run. Ragan was the lucky dog and after catching up to the tail end of the longest lap he came into the pits for tires and fuel.

Ragan maintained the 17th position throughout laps leading up to end of the race. On lap 243 the field was red flagged for a wreck involving the 00 car between turns three and four. On the restart Ragan held his position. Suddenly the second place No. 29 machine, driven by Kevin Harvick, lost speed when it was realized that he had a tire going down. This allowed Ragan to gain one final position before crossing the finish line in 16th place.

“It was an average day,” said Ragan. “We wanted to come here and finish. The racer in us, we want to win, we want to finish second or third but this is something we’ll take and we’ll grow on. We got to run some decent laps and if the cautions would have fell in our liking we might could have been around 10th or 12th. But we’ll take it for everyone at AAA Insurance here in Southern California and we’ll move on to the next one.”

Ragan will compete next in the UAW Daimler Chrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 11th. The race is scheduled to air on Fox and PRN Radio at 4:00pm PST.