Front Row Motorsports Geico 500 Report Talladega Superspeedway, 2.66-mile oval, Talladega, Alabama David Ragan, No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford Starting Position: 25 Finishing Position: 30 Sundays race at Talladega Superspeedway was its usual high-drama event, with the added element of it being a Chase cut-off race that would knock out four drivers championship hopes. David Ragan started the Geico 500 with four top-10 finishes in his last five starts at the 2.66-mile track, including a 2013 win. Twenty-fifth on the starting grid, he knew he could take his Dockside Logistics Ford to the front. For much of the first half of the race, though, he stayed in the back of the pack to log laps and avoid trouble. After narrowly avoiding two multi-car wrecks that happened too closely for comfort, Ragan started working his way toward the front. With the help of a two-tire pit stop under caution on Lap 133, Ragan restarted 18th and worked his way into the top 10 while riding three-wide in a precarious middle groove for nearly 20 laps. With about 15 laps to go, and Ragan running 10th, the team needed one final pit stop to fuel up for the finish. After leading his second lap of the race, Ragan pitted on Lap 175 for four fresh tires for a final push toward the front. Back on track, Ragan alternated between the high and low lines to work his way up to third with just seven laps to go, poised for another fantastic Talladega finish. But the No. 15 of Clint Bowyer played spoiler. Bowyer, running behind Ragan in the low line, dipped his tires below the yellow apron line to come below the No. 34 and knock Ragan out of the line. Shoved out of the line that had the fast run, Ragan fell back to 29th. A late-race wreck involving his teammate, David Gilliland, added some extra laps to the race, forcing a green-white-checkered finish. But the extra laps didnt prove to help Ragan advance. After taking the white flag in 22nd, his line lost ground and he fell back to 30th for the finish. Comments from Dockside Logistics team driver David Ragan after the Talladega race: Our Dockside Logistics team did a great job today. The car was fast, we ran up front for a lot of the race, and we led some laps. We were in a position toward the end for at least a top-five finish, but we got a little shove from the 15 and that knocked us out of line. Its disappointing, but thats Talladega. Were heading to one of my favorite tracks next week, so well look for a good run in Martinsville.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 02:15:23 +0000
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