The UPS team in action on pit road in Texas
The UPS team pretty much broke even in Sunday’s Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway as they started and finished in 17th position.
After solid practice sessions throughout the entire weekend, David Ragan and the team were looking forward to an equally successful race on Sunday with their special UPS/Boys & Girls Clubs of America Ford Fusion.
For most of the race, David’s Ford was loose in the corners, so the UPS team made small adjustments during almost every pit stop of the race to tighten up the No. 6 Ford. The adjustments were working, but they were just not as aggressive as David needed them to be to get the car to grip in the corners.
David went a lap down on lap 182, but he was able to maintain his position as the first car a lap down when the yellow flag came out on lap 207. As a result of his position, David was the recipient of the Lucky Dog Award and got his lap back when the race returned to green on lap 213.
With 50 laps remaining in the race, David again went down a lap behind the leaders. He battled to get back in position to be the Lucky Dog, but when he was able to get in that position, the caution didn’t came out when the team needed it to.
As the final 10 laps neared, multiple teams realized they would be short on fuel and cars began hitting pit road to get a splash of gas. The UPS team was going to be close on fuel, so Jimmy Fennig brought David into the pits with six laps remaining in the race. David made his way back out on the track and was able to cross the finish line under his own power. But, as a result of having to come into the pits and multiple cars running out of fuel on the final lap, David finished two laps behind the race winner.
“We just started way too loose today,” said David after the race. “We made some good adjustments all night long, but we just couldn’t make them fast enough. We tightened up our UPS Ford on almost every stop, but our adjustments were in small increments. We needed to make more of a big impact with our adjustments. Our car was better at the end than what we started with, and we played the pit strategy game the best we could at the end. We had to come in to pit for fuel which may have cost us a few spots, but we were okay with our car tonight.”
David and the UPS team head to Phoenix International Raceway for the second to last race of the season. The last time the UPS team raced in Phoenix, they started 14th and finished in 22nd position.
David and the No. 6 UPS/Boys & Girls Clubs of America Ford Fusion
