David and the UPS team have the weekend off from racing. What are your plans for the weekend?

We’d like to thank all of you fans that are in the military for what you do for our country.

Let us know: How many of our UPS Racing fans are part of the military?

As part of the 2010 Charlotte Media Tour, David gave rides to members of the media around Charlotte Motor Speedway in a Roush 427 Mustang!

We’ve had some good moments this season, but we’ve also definitely had our struggles. We started out the year pretty good with a solid finish in Daytona, and I really thought we could have gotten a better finish than sixth if the race hadn’t ended because of the rain. Our whole organization had a good start to the season with good finishes in Daytona, and with Matt winning the first two races of the season.

Our first bad luck came in Vegas. We had a problem and that ended our day early, and it was pretty surprising because I think one of my teammates had the same problem. Another tough race for us was in Texas when we had a wrapper get stuck on our grill and overheat our engine. That one was a real bummer because we were running in fifth when that happened.

My favorite tracks this season have been the short tracks. I like going back to those because those are the kind of tracks I grew up racing on. I just feel comfortable racing on those tracks.

There are a couple of things that I want to point out that I’m really proud of this season. The biggest one is just how hard our UPS team has worked this year. No matter if we were running well or not having the best race, they never gave up. I knew that every time I got in the car, my team was backing me 100 percent and doing the best job that they could do.

Our season is so long, but it really seems like it’s flown by. We didn’t end up where we wanted to in points, but we have high hopes for next year. We are already looking forward to better finishes in every race next year. Our team belongs in the Chase, and we’re going to do everything in our power to make that happen next season.

Besides having fun racing this year, I’ve had a great time meeting UPS employees and fans all across the country. I got to make a lot of visits to distribution centers, sorting facilities, and events with UPS, and every person I’ve met with the company has been so supportive of the No. 6 team. It’s nice to be out here representing such great people!

I hope everyone has a great offseason and enjoys the holidays. Like I said, I’m going to keep up my blog postings right up until we go back to Daytona, so check back each week.

I think I heard today that there were less than 90 days until the Daytona 500. It seems like a long ways away, but it will come up quick. Our UPS team will be there and we’ll be ready. Here’s looking forward to a successful 2010 season!

-David

Hey UPS Racing Fans,

Pocono is behind us and we’re heading to Michigan this weekend. Michigan is always a fun track to go to. It’s a wide, fast track with plenty of opportunities to pass. Last year we had two top-10 finishes there and I really hope we can pull off a repeat performance this year. Plus, it’s the hometown of Roush Industries and Ford.

Tomorrow is a busy day for me up in Michigan. Most the day I’m at Ford World Headquarters to meet with the employees and just for some general meetings about Ford. Then we are off to the Ford Proving Grounds to test drive some vehicles. Thursday evening I’ll be at Roush Industries signing autographs. All of us Roush drivers go there once a year, either at the spring or fall race, to sign autographs for our Michigan fans. It’s a busy day, but it will be fun.

This week I’ve been in Sonoma testing. Road courses haven’t been my strongest tracks in the past, so extra time at them is very valuable. Last week we were at Road Atlanta too…we’ve been testing a bunch lately. I’m ready to head back to Sonoma for the race. Getting to the west coast isn’t fun, but once you’re there it’s a pretty cool place to visit. We are going out early to do a media event with the track on Wednesday and then Thursday I might have some free time to explore around San Francisco. It’s wine country there, but that’s not really what I want to do. We stay right near San Francisco, so I’d rather head that way and see what I can find.         

-David

UPS Racing wants to know: What should David do when he visits San Francisco?

QVC is a service mark of ER Marks, Inc.  The QVC.com domain name is registered to QVC, Inc.

Hey UPS Racing Fans,

Well, it was nice to be home in Charlotte for two weeks, but now it’s back to a normal schedule for us…well, kind of, as normal as our schedule ever gets. Rain at the track is never a fun thing and made for a long weekend in Charlotte for what’s already the longest race we run all year. Our UPS Ford was decent and I think we could have gotten a much better finish if the rain hadn’t come. There isn’t much we can do about that and we’ll just hope for a better run this weekend. We desperately need points and that will be the goal; getting solid finishes and points racing. 

I’ve been out at Pikes Peak in Colorado Monday and Tuesday this week testing and flew straight to Dover. I’m excited for Dover this weekend, we’re back to a normal race weekend and it’ll be a busy one since I’m running both the Nationwide and Cup races. Roush Fenway has always been strong at Dover in the past and I hope to be up front at the end and competing for a win. Hopefully this is the week things will turn around for us.

Let me know if any of you have special memories about the races in Dover.

-David

 

 

David at UPS Freight

Hey race fans,

Well we had a good run last weekend in Talladega and we’re really excited to race in Richmond this weekend. Richmond is one of my favorite tracks. We got one of my first top 10s here in my rookie season and I’ve had some good finishes in the Nationwide car there too.

Richmond is a fun race for not just the drivers but also the fans to be able to kind of sit right on top of the action and really get to see a great race. And Saturday night races are a lot of fun for all of us and something we get a kick out of to race under the lights.

We’re running the UPS Freight colors on our car this weekend, and when we found out over a month ago that we were going to have a special paint scheme on the car, that certainly got everyone excited in our shop. To have UPS Freight silver colors on our Ford for the weekend is truly special. It’s awesome to represent all the employees across the U.S. that make UPS and UPS Freight what it is. We’re certainly excited to sport those colors this weekend. It means a lot to us.

We haven’t exactly had the season to date that we’ve wanted, but we’ve had a couple of engine failures and some bad luck so we’ve dug ourselves a hole. We made up a few points last weekend with a good run and stayed in the top 10 most of the race but didn’t get the finish we wanted.

Coming to Richmond, we’re really positive and there’s absolutely no reason that we can’t qualify in the top 10 and get the win with the UPS Freight car this weekend.

We’ll see you at the track.

-David

Hey UPS Racing Fans,

During our off week from the Cup Series last week, I went to Nashville and raced in my Nationwide car. Nashville was a pretty good race for us, besides the penalty we had on pit road. We qualified well and ran up front all day; it was a solid top-10 finish. The weather was kind of crazy out there. Tornadoes touched down right near the track, and so NASCAR evacuated the garage and made us all go to the media center for safety. That’s the first time I’ve experienced that at a track!

Today I’m heading out to Phoenix a day early for some Discount Tire appearances. Phoenix is their headquarters so we’ll visit them and do some other stuff while we are out there in Arizona. Phoenix is a really fun track to race at, but at the same time, it’s really hard to get your car set up to handle well. Both corners are very different, so you have to compromise a little on the set up to get it so you can drive fast in both corners. The weather looks pretty nice for our trip this week and Saturday night races are always fun.  

Besides the racing stuff I don’t have too much going on. Last week we were up in New Hampshire for a Goodyear tire test (it was cold and rainy) and I’ve actually got a few more tests coming up towards the end of the month. I just can’t believe we are halfway through April already. We’ve got some good tracks coming up and we really need to make up some points. 

David

Hi Guys,

We’re here in Bristol after an off weekend last week. It seems like forever since we were in Atlanta just a few weeks ago. We had a busy off week. We went and tested for Martinsville. It rained here in North Carolina all weekend, so we didn’t get to do any sort of outside activity. I was able to go home to Unadilla for a couple of days after the Atlanta race, so that was good to catch up with family and friends.

But Bristol is on our minds this weekend. We’ve got a good car that we brought here. We finished 10^th in the last race here last year and it would be really good to have a top-10 or top-five finish this weekend and get some of our points back. But ultimately you never know what can happen in Bristol. You could be up running in fourth and something could happen right up in front of you and you could end up taking the win. We just need to put ourselves in a position to win.

But Bristol is always a fun race. It’s 500 laps so it’s a really long race. It’s good for the fans and all of the drivers really have a fun time at this race. There’s not rain in the schedule so we’re hoping for a good solid and dry weekend. We’re running the Nationwide race too, so that will be a good warm-up for Sunday’s race.

Be sure to tune into the race and thanks for checking out the website.

- David

David Ragan in the No. 6 UPS Ford

Qualifying is complete here in Fontana with 48 drivers taking to the two-mile track in Southern California. After heading out as the 16^th driver for qualifying, David Ragan and the No. 6 UPS team will start 13^th in Sunday’s race.

“I think we’re steps ahead of where we were last year,” said Ragan after his qualifying run. “We’ve still got some work to do. I think that we’ve got a solid car for this weekend. It’s not the best, but we’ve shown improvement from the first practice to qualifying and it picked up some.”

David started 24th last year in this race and finished 14th. Of his four career Cup starts here, he has completed every lap of every race.

As far as the weather today, it was a pretty neat backdrop when all of the cars were out on the track. The sun was shining high above the track and the mountains in the background were snow-capped.

That’s my favorite thing about races out in the West during the early months of the season. It’s cool to be standing on pit lane with warm temps and seeing everyone walking around in short-sleeved shirts, and then look up at the mountains and see snow on the top of them.

The UPS team heads back to the track tomorrow for one final practice before the race. David’s start on Sunday will be his fifth at this race track where he’s never finished lower than 16^th.

David will be a guest on RaceDay on Sunday to talk about the race and the No. 6 will also have an in-car camera riding along for the rest of the weekend.

Don’t miss David on TV this weekend!

RaceDay on SPEED: 1:40 p.m. (PT), 4:40 p.m. (ET).

Race on Fox: 3 p.m. (PT), 6 p.m. (ET).