After falling off the lead lap early, a last-minute Hail Mary attempt by Front Row Motorsports didn’t exactly end up in Victory Lane, but David Ragan did score his first top-10 finish of the year in Sunday’s Goody’s Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
“That was a great finish,” said Ragan. “It’s important to stay on the lead lap in these events because it gives you a choice to gamble at the end. When I saw just one or two cars stay out I knew within five laps that we could hang on. Derrick Finley and our Front Row Motorsport team did a nice job working on our Ford all day.”
But, what a celebration it would have been for Bob Jenkins’s team – if David actually beat Goliath, again.
Still on the lead lap and with nothing to lose, Ragan’s team elected to stay out, when the leaders headed to pit road when the final caution flag waived 10 laps from the finish.
Restart third and on older tires, Ragan was swallowed by his competition with fresher tires and a little more horsepower, but the Unadilla, Georgia native utilized track position to his advantage to finish 10th, collecting his best finish since finishing sixth last October at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
On Saturday, Ragan watched fellow NASCAR driver Darrell Wallace Jr. take his No. 34 Toyota Tundra to Victory Lane, carrying a special paint scheme for soon-to-be inducted NASCAR Hall of Famer Wendell Scott.
With Ragan’s No. 34 Ford Fusion carrying an identical scheme, Ragan and his team were determined to lay it all out – and put two special vehicles in Victory Lane on the same weekend.
“It’s cool to have a little excitement there toward the end in the Wendell Scott Ford,” added Ragan. “Hopefully, his family was enjoying those final few laps. I know it was a lot of fun for me.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
