Front Row Motorsports Coca-Cola 600 Report Charlotte Motor Speedway, 1.5-mile oval, Concord, North Carolina David Ragan, No. 34 Taco Bell Ford Starting Position: 35 Finishing Position: 31 The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series marked the Memorial Day weekend on Sunday with its longest race of the year, the Coca-Cola 600, at Charlotte Motor Speedway. After pre-race ceremonies involving hundreds of military personnel, it was time to kick off 600 miles of racing. David Ragan and the No. 34 Taco Bell team were 35th on the starting grid, knowing the long night would provide plenty of time to adjust and compete. As always, the day-into-night race brought constantly changing track conditions that crews had to adjust to. But one issue persisted throughout the night for Ragans Ford Fusion -- tightness in the center of the turns. With each pit stop, the No. 34 team made adjustments to help its driver get around the 1.5-mile track better, and Ragan reported the changes helped. But he was dealt a setback on Lap 257 when his left rear tire went down, forcing him to pit under green. The unscheduled stop cost Ragan a couple positions and he rejoined the field in 34th. But by the final 100 laps of the race, he reported his car was handling as well as it had all evening. He then focused on regaining as many positions as he could. When the checkered flag flew after 400 laps, he had climbed three more spots to finish 31st. Comments from Taco Bell team driver David Ragan after the Charlotte race: Six hundred miles is always a long night. It probably felt a little longer for us because we dealt with a tight racecar for a good part of the night. Our Taco Bell team did a good job on pit road making adjustments as the night wore on, and we got it to where it wasnt too bad. We still need to make some improvements to get some better finishes, though, and were going to work hard to do so.
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 04:26:10 +0000
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