David Ragan – Race Recap
Pep Boys Auto 500 - Hampton, Ga. / October 28, 2007
Started 37th / Finished 33rd

RAGAN RETURNS TO HOMETOWN TRACK, ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
David Ragan and the No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion

HAMPTON, GA (October 28, 2007) – A native of the small southern town of Unadilla, Ga., David Ragan calls Atlanta Motor Speedway home. On the track, Ragan is not only fighting for the 2007 Raybestos Rookie of the Year title, he is also working hard to break into the top 20 in points before the end of the 2007 season. Ragan finished 33rd in Sunday’s race at the 1.5-mile track in his home state.

Ragan began the weekend by posting the 17th-fastest lap time on Saturday’s “Happy Hour” practice session. On Saturday evening he flew to Memphis, Tenn. where he finished third in the NASCAR Busch Series race. With momentum going into Sunday’s 325-lap event in Atlanta, Ragan was confident in himself and his AAA Ford.

The green flag dropped around 2:20pm ET for the start of the Pep Boys Auto 500. Ragan took his time feeling out his car before beginning his fight forward.

The first caution of the day came on lap 32 when Ragan’s fellow rookie competitor, Juan Pablo Montoya, was involved in an incident causing damage to his race car. Crew chief Jimmy Fennig brought Ragan into the pits on lap 35 for four fresh tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. 12.9 seconds later, Ragan was heading out of his pit stall and back out on the track to restart in 29th place.

Ragan was able to maintain a position in the top 30 throughout the first segment of the competition, but when the No. 42 car brought the caution out again on lap 57.

Ragan once again came into the pits on lap 59 where he got four more tires, fuel and more adjustments to the chassis and tire pressures. He returned to the field in 30th position.

Slowly but surely Ragan began to gain positions and by lap 123 he was running 19th, but was losing rear grip, which hurt his acceleration off of the corners.

It was only 15 laps later that Ragan came over the radio to tell his team that he had a small vibration and he felt that he needed to pit soon. After a discussion on the radio with Fenning, Ragan he completed one more lap before his right front tire blew, sending Ragan spinning into the wall.

Ragan headed down pit road on lap 148 for new right side tires and repairs and then revisited pit road on lap 151 for left sides and more body work. Once he reentered the field in 33rd position NASCAR mandated that Ragan restart at the tail end of the longest line as a penalty for pitting too early after going one lap down on the first stop.

Once the field went green again on lap 153, Ragan took some time to feel out his AAA Ford and attempt to detect any obvious problems. He told Fennig that the car felt good enough and there were no tires rubbing against the fenders.

Things were looking up for Ragan until lap 167 when the No. 66 Best Buy Chevrolet, now driven by Jeremy Mayfield, spun out after an incident where the No. 66, No. 6, and No. 15 were running three-wide down the straight away. The accident caused heavy damage to the No. 66 car and minor damage to the left front fender of the No. 6 AAA Ford.

Ragan made several trips to pit road for repairs and eventually returned to the field in 36th position and seven laps down.

Ragan fought to regain all the positions that he could, but was never able to return to the lead lap or compete with many cars which were not on the same lap that he was. Ragan crossed the finish line in 33rd place, still several laps down.

“We had a good car today, just bad luck,” said Ragan. “We had a tire go down and then we got caught up in a mess with the No. 66 and suffered some damage to our AAA Ford Fusion. It was not the night that I was looking forward to having at a home track in front of so many family and friends, but I definitely want to say thank you to everyone for the support and well wishes this week. Also, thank you to AAA and its 50 million members for all of your help and support.”

Ragan is currently 23rd in the NEXTEL Cup Series point standings and second in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year race.
Ragan will compete next at 3:00pm ET on November 4th in the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.