Nextel Cup Open-Concord, N.C. / May 19th, 2007
Started 2nd - Finished 22nd

RAGAN FINISHES 22ND IN THE NEXTEL OPEN

CONCORD, N.C. (May 19, 2007) – Rookie driver David Ragan was faced with the challenge of racing his way into the Nextel All-Star Challenge at Lowe’s Motor Speedway this weekend. There were three possible ways of transferring into the event: win the Nextel Open, finish second in the Nextel Open or get voted in by the fans, and with a second place qualifying position Ragan’s chances were looking promising.

Ragan rolled off pit road behind pole sitter and teammate Carl Edwards. The format for the race was 20 laps then a caution with optional pit stop and then 20 laps. Ragan dominated throughout the first segment maintaining his 2nd place position.

There were several caution flag throughout the first 20 laps of the race during which Ragan radioed to his team that his AAA Ford was loose in the center of the corner and then tight up off of the corners.

On lap 20 the caution flag flew ending the first segment of the 40 lap race. Ragan’s crew chief, Jimmy Fennig, opted to keep Ragan out on the track to maintain track position and stay up front in the clean air.

When the green flag dropped again Ragan followed his teammate into the first and second turns, but was not able to hang in there with such a loose race car.

Ragan spun down the back stretch causing enough damage to his AAA Ford to take it to the garage. With very few laps left in the race the team began to load up the truck.

“We had a good car, I felt like,” said Ragan. “These guys have been working extremely hard and brought this pretty fast race car out here. I feel like I kind of let them down. It’s not tore up that bad. I just hate that we’re sitting in here in the garage watching the last of this race. That’s disappointing.”

Ragan will compete next in the Coca Cola 600 on May 27th at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Coverage begins at 5:00PM ET on FOX and PRN.