David Ragan – Race Recap
Sharpie 500-Bristol, Tenn. / August 25, 2007
Started 4th / Finished 41st

DAVID RAGAN HAS DIFFICULT NIGHT UNDER THE LIGHTS AT BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY
David Ragan and the No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion

BRISTOL, TN (August 25, 2007) –Bristol Motor Speedway is always an exciting place for both fans and drivers - especially under the lights on a Saturday night. With the track’s new surface just finished David Ragan didn’t know what to expect on his second trip to the half-mile track in the Car of Tomorrow.

After qualifying fourth for Saturday evenings 500 lap race the AAA team had confidence that Ragan would bring home a good finish.

The green flag dropped for the start of the Sharpie 500 at 8:20pm EST. Ragan had a strong race car and was able to run in the top-10 for the first 100 laps of the race. He radioed to the team under caution that he could use a little more forward bite, but the temperature gauges looked good and all-in-all he was pleased with his AAA Ford.

The first caution of the race came on lap 125 when the No. 70 car made contact with the outside wall. Ragan came down pit road on lap 128 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. He reentered the field in 12th place.

It was exactly 60 laps after his first pit stop that Ragan radioed to the AAA pit crew that his car was very tight and he had a bad vibration in the front end of his Ford Fusion. Ragan was quickly headed into the pits for a green flag stop. Ragan entered pit road in the 21st position and returned to the track in 39th place and three laps down.

Not only did Ragan have a loose right front tire but that loose tire wore the threads on the wheel studs down making it very difficult to get the lug nuts on and off of the car during pit stops.

The yellow flag flew again on lap 211 when the No. 11 car spun between turns three and four. Ragan radioed to his team to let them know that the car was back to normal.

Thirteen laps later the caution flag flew once again. Ragan was instructed by crew chief, Jimmy Fennig, to stay out on the track. Ragan was running 37th and still three laps down when the green flag dropped again on lap 232.

The AAA team’s luck took another turn for the worse when on lap 295 Ragan told his team that he was having trouble keeping his AAA Ford in gear. Ragan did what he could to keep the gear shifter in place and finally on lap 372 he came into the pits after loosing control and spinning out by himself making no contact with anything around him. The AAA pit crew gave him four fresh tires while one of the crew members helped Ragan put a cord on the shifter to help hold it in gear.

When the field went green again Ragan was running in 36th place. Under the next caution, Ragan informed his team that one of the hooks came off of the cord. Fennig called Ragan back down pit road on lap 399 to have a new cord placed on his gear shift.

The track went green again on lap 402. Ragan, still three laps down, was running in the 37th spot and still struggling with his race car.

On lap 421 Ragan’s night came to an end when he spun and hit the wall causing severe damage to his AAA Ford Fusion.

“It’s been a very disappointing night for the AAA team,” said Ragan. “We had such a good qualifying run and a really good race car. We had a problem with a loose front tire and then I struggled with the car popping out of gear under green. It seems like things started going down hill and it just snowballed from there. I was really looking forward to a good run here tonight, but I guess things like this happen and we just have to try to better ourselves and move on.”

Ragan is currently 25th in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Championship point standings. He is second in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year Race.

Ragan will compete next in the Sharp AQUOS 500 at California Speedway on September 2nd. Coverage begins at 7 :00pm EST on ESPN and MRN.