UPS RACING

After overcoming a spin in the grass while running inside of the top 10 and making multiple trips down pit road to repair damage, David Ragan and the No. 6 UPS team came away from Daytona International Speedway with a 13^th-place finish on Saturday night.

David had a fast Ford Fusion all night and after taking the green flag in 27^th, he fought his way up inside of the top 20 rather quickly. For most of the race, David’s UPS Ford was right on the money and only required small air pressure and track bar adjustments throughout the night.

As the race neared the halfway point, David maintained a spot inside of the top 10 until lap 121 when contact with Kurt Busch sent him spinning in the grass on the back straightaway. David immediately came into the pits and the UPS pit crew pulled out his fenders, changed tires and sent him back out to beat the pace car and remain on the lead lap.

“Our UPS Ford was fast and we were able to overcome some adversity tonight,” said David after the race. “That’s just restrictor plate racing here at Daytona. Kurt Busch and I touched there and we spun on the back straightaway and knocked around our fenders a little bit and lost some spots, but our UPS pit crew was quick and we were able to get most of those spots back. “

David made two more trips down pit road to make sure there wasn’t any further damage, all while maintaining a spot on the lead lap. He returned to the track in 19^th, but was able to make his way back up in the field and avoid the wreck on the final lap to come away with a 13^th-place finish.

“Our finish doesn’t show just how well our car was tonight and how well we could have run,” said David. “If you make a small mistake or bad decision on which lane to take, it can cost you. That caused us to lose a few spots and it just took us a while to get back up through the field. It’s a 13th-place finish and we should get some points off of that but it’s not quite as good as we could have been.”

David and the UPS team head to Chicagoland Speedway next weekend for another Saturday night race under the lights.

It is the second weekend in a row NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying has been cancelled due to inclement weather. Because of the interruption in the schedule, owner’s points will determine the starting lineup and David will roll off the grid in 31^st.

Rain entered into the Daytona area just about an before the first car was set to go out for qualifying, and with the Nationwide race scheduled for tonight, there just wasn’t enough time get Cup qualifying in.

“It’s too bad that we weren’t able to qualify our UPS Ford,” said David. “We had a great day of practice yesterday and were the quickest car in first practice. For last night’s session, we were trying out some things that we’re hoping will help us out for the race tomorrow night.”

David and the UPS team finished sixth the last time they visited the famed 2.5-mile track in Florida, and are hoping for a similar result tomorrow night.

“We’re really excited to race tomorrow night; this is where we earned our best finish of the season. We’ve been trying some different things and working really hard back at the shop and we know that we’ve got a top 10 car that should be able to run up front tomorrow. It’s just going to take one race for us to get some momentum on our side and Daytona couldn’t be a better place for our team to do just that.”

Tomorrow night will be David’s sixth start at Daytona International Speedway.