David Ragan – Race Recap
Citizens Bank 400-Brooklyn, Mich. / June 17th, 2007
Started 34th / Finished 21st

RAGAN FINISHES 21ST AT MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY

BROOKLYN, Mich. (June 17, 2007) –The NASCAR circuit traveled to Michigan International Speedway this weekend for the running of the Citizen’s Bank 400 on Sunday afternoon.

Michigan is not only home to Roush Industries but also to Ford Racing so David Ragan and the No. 6 AAA team were looking forward to a good weekend in the presence of some many members of the Roush motorsports family.

Ragan qualified 34th for the start of the 400 mile event and ran 21st in the happy hour practice session on Saturday afternoon. Ragan was one of the few drivers who pulled double duty over the weekend, racing both the Cup car at Michigan as well as the Busch car in Kentucky.

He returned to Michigan after finishing 8th in Saturday nights Busch race and woke up the next morning with another challenge ahead of him.

Ragan competed in several events at MIS in past including two races in the Craftsman Truck Series as well as a few ARCA RE/MAX Series races. With that experience under his belt he felt a little more confident heading into this weekend’s race.

The 200 lap competition got underway just after 2:00 pm EST on Sunday afternoon. There was a near sell out crowd in the stands for the Father’s Day event and spectators definitely got a show.

Ragan complained early on that his AAA Ford was pretty tight through the center and on exit from the corners. Crew chief, Jimmy Fennig gave the order to make an air pressure and wedge adjustment on the first pit stop, under the green flag, to help improve the handling of Ragan’s Fusion.

Ragan later radioed that the changes made during the first stop were an improvement and as long as they concentrated on making his race car better through the center and up off the corners then he would be fine.

When Ragan headed into the pits for the second time he was in 34th position and one lap down. Fennig ordered up another air pressure adjustment as well as a change to the track bar before sending Ragan back out on the track in 35th place.

The field went green again on lap 55 and on lap 68 the caution flag flew once again when fellow Raybestos Rookie Contender, Juan Pablo Montoya hit the wall sending his No. 42 machine to the garage.

The AAA Pit Crew took this opportunity to bring Ragan back into the pits for four tires, fuel and another wedge adjustment sending him back out in 31st position.

With the AAA Insurance Ford showing improvement over the next couple of laps Ragan, Fennig and spotter, Tony Hirschman began to work on positioning for the lucky dog pass, which would allow Ragan to return to the lead lap. On lap 74 Ragan was the second car one lap down, just behind the No. 66 driven by Jeff Green. Suddenly cars began to wreck in front of Ragan one of which was the No. 66 car.

Unfortunately this did not make Ragan eligible for the free pass, but it did put him in the position as the first car one or more laps down. All the AAA team had to do now was hang on to that spot and pray for another quick caution.

However, things did not quite play in the team’s favor. Ragan came down pit road on lap 112 and made his second green flag pit stop of the day. This stop caused him to lose the positioning necessary to achieve the lucky dog pass and only two short laps later the yellow flag flew when the No. 96 spun while entering pit road. The No. 7 car got the lucky dog and Ragan was back in 25th, still running a lap down.

Ragan continued to struggle with the tightness in his race car through out the remainder of the day. He was never able to return to the lead lap however he finished the race in 21st position.

“It was a long day,” said Ragan. “We made a lot of adjustments. I was just happy to see the end, but I wish we would have been a little better though. We were chasing after pure grip just about all day. Our AAA Ford was just really tight. I just wish we could start it all over again and hopefully do a little better.”

Ragan will compete next at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Ca. on June 24th. Coverage begins at 4:00PM Eastern on TNT and PRN. Sonoma will be the first road course race that Ragan will run in the Nextel Cup Series not to mention the first Car of Tomorrow road race.

Ragan is currently 26th in the Nextel Cup Championship point standings and second in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year race. He trails Juan Pablo Montoya by four points.