UPS RACING

David while running 11th at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Saturday night

David Ragan and the No. 6 UPS team started Saturday night’s race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in 29th position. But, it didn’t take too long for them to move up inside of the top 20. The car was on the move until David felt something wrong with one of his new tires. After he came into the pits and the UPS team took a look, they determined he had a right-front tire going down, and as a result of losing a little bit of track position, ended Saturday’s race in 20^th-place finish.

The No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion was very good at the beginning of the race, and that, combined with quick pit stops by the UPS crew, put David up into 11^th place. David maintained a spot right around that position until experiencing the tire issue.

“Our UPS Ford was real good at the beginning of the race,” said David. “We started further back than we would have liked, but we were able to move up pretty quick. We didn’t have to make too many adjustments early in the race because the car was pretty neutral. Just around halfway, the car felt different after making a trip down pit road. It felt like there was something wrong with the tires, so we came in during the next caution period and switched them out. Jimmy said that it looked like our right front was going down, and that cost us track position because it was much more difficult to drive the car with a bad tire on it.

“We just couldn’t get back up in the field after that tire issue,” continued David. “Our UPS pit crew was great in the pits, but we just didn’t get the finish we wanted.”

David and the UPS team will compete in the Tums Fast Relief 500 next weekend at Martinsville Speedway. Coverage for the race begins at 1 p.m. Eastern Time on ABC.

David heading out to qualifying in Charlotte

It was a very long day at Lowe’s Motor Speedway on Thursday for David Ragan and the No. 6 UPS team as rain came into the area and moved all track activities scheduled for the afternoon, into the evening hours.

The team had just one short practice after the weather cleared to get their car ready for qualifying. Because time was limited to work on the car’s setup during practice, David and the UPS team were just 31^st during practice. And unfortunately, they weren’t able to gain much ground during qualifying and will start 29^th in Saturday night’s race.

“Our qualifying lap wasn’t too good,” said David after his run. “We didn’t make it any better from practice because we only picked up a few hundredths. I didn’t think the track would really speed up or slow down much during the rest of qualifying, so our lap really wasn’t very good.”

David and the team will have two more chances on Friday to get their car setup just the way they want for Saturday’s race under the lights in Charlotte. The race will be David’s sixth start at the track in the Cup Series, and the second at the track this season.

Be sure to catch coverage of Saturday’s race on ABC. Coverage starts at 7 p.m. and the green flag will wave around 7:30 p.m.

This past weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Evelyn Roberto, who works in the Revenue Recovery Department for West Carolina was part of the UPS Track Services team. Evelyn took some time out of her busy schedule on race day to talk with UPS Racing about what she does both at and away from the track.  

Evelyn Roberto at Trackside Services

I have worked for 10 years with UPS and have a long list of different jobs that I’ve held with the company. I’ve worked in security, preloading and unloading just to name a few. And now, I work in the Revenue Recovery Department.

What I do during the week is to work with revenue auditors. Whenever someone bills themselves for a package, they have to put how much the package weighs and how many packages they have. Our department makes sure that those bills are accurate.

This was my first time out working the UPS Trackside program, and it was a really great thing to see UPS be a part of. It was a great experience at the track. It was very, very wet during the weekend, but it was a good event. I think that we have a great service that we offer to the sport and I think that it’s wonderful that we’re out here and involved in it and I’m proud to be a part of it.

Pride of the company is really my favorite thing about working for UPS. It’s a great company. We give back to the community and we have great people. We’re proud of what we do and I love my job.

When I’m not working, I have a horse farm with 14 horses that I enjoy. Also, when I get the opportunity, both my kids are or were in the Navy, so I try and spend as much time with them as I can.

David and Richie waiting for the rain to pass at LMS

For the second day in a row, inclement weather around Lowe’s Motor Speedway caused issues on the racetrack for David Ragan, the UPS Racing team and the entire NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
 
After complete downpours on Sunday postponed the Coca-Cola 600 until Monday, NASCAR was hoping to run the entire 400-lap event today. But, a steady string of rainstorms made multiple appearances to the track and the weather ended up forcing the race to be called after just 227 laps of 400 were complete.
 
“We sat around the Lowe’s Motor Speedway last night in a couple hours of traffic and got back up and it seems like that’s what did all afternoon,” said Ragan. “Our UPS Ford was decent at times. I think we were just chasing the track more than anything. It seems like once we got it close to being dialed in another rain shower came and we kind of had to start over again. I would have liked to at least get another 50 or 100 laps in. I think we had a better car than where we finished and I know all the fans out there wanted to see some more racing.”
 
David started the race in 34th, and quickly began to move up in the field and staying pretty steady around 18th-24th for most of the event.
  
Rain reports from the spotters on top of the grand stands began to come in right before 3 p.m., which ended up being good timing as a competition yellow flew at that time for NASCAR to take part in a national moment of silence for Memorial Day. After the cars re-fired, David was declared the recipient of the ‘Lucky Dog’ award, which got him back onto the lead lap.
 
Once David and the No. 6 UPS Ford got back out on track, they had trouble with overall grip on the car. Normally, rubber builds up on the race track and can help drivers a little bit with grip, but when the rain kept returning to the track, it kept washing away all of the rubber that had been built up.
 
The final caution flag of the race came out on lap 272 and lasted until lap 277 before the field was called to pit road and the red flag came out. After waiting close to two hours while the rain came down, David and the UPS team were bummed about sitting in 24th-place for the finish, which keeps them 32nd in the points.
 
David and the UPS team will have a short week in the shop before heading to Dover, Delaware for the running of the Autism Speaks 400 this weekend. 

The UPS team in action at Lowe's Motor Speedway

This past weekend at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Michael Main, an Industrial Engineer out of the Charlotte hub, was one of the UPS Track Services workers. Michael took some time out of his busy schedule on race day to talk with UPS Racing about what he does both at and away from the track.  

Michael Main at Lowe's Motor Speedway

I have been with UPS for five years and working at Lowe’s Motor Speedway this past weekend was the first time that I worked the UPS Trackside Services program.

I wouldn’t really call myself a NASCAR fan, but I’ve been to a few races and I always support the UPS driver.

With it being my first time working Trackside, I can see that everyone around the track definitely appreciates being able to get parts and last minute supplies and packages at the track. And also being able to get their stuff sent back to their offices after the race. We play a critical function out here and it has been fun.

I just think that what we do at UPS is really important, and I enjoy my job. Especially being able to deliver packages at Christmas time, to normal deliveries every day to being able to support a race team out here at the track.

UPS enables people and businesses to get things from one place to another. What we do is important and a lot of people trust us with their packages and supplies everyday. You’re always doing something different, but the end goal is always the same.

When I’m away from work, my wife and I like to do some traveling. We have a dog and we like to spoil him too. I also like to go to the gym and watch football.

The Sprint Showdown on Saturday night was an all or nothing racing event. With points not being a factor and only the top-two finishers transferring into the All-Star race, David Ragan and the UPS team did everything they could to get one of those top two spots. Unfortunately, they fell a little bit short and finished the Showdown in eighth place.

David in No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion at Lowe's Motor Speedway

David started the Showdown in seventh place and maintained that spot and even better right through the conclusion of the first 20-lap segment of the night. During the scheduled caution period that separated the two segments, David brought his No. 6 UPS Ford Fusion into the pits to make an adjustment to the car that the team hoped would be able to help make it easier for David to fly up through the field.

“A third-place finish doesn’t mean anything here, so it’s either first or second,” said David of his pit stop. “We knew it was gonna be tough to pass those guys and get to that first or second spot where we were at. I think we could have stayed out and maintained fourth or fifth, but that didn’t mean anything, so we figured we should come down and put four tires on. 

“We were here to win and to at least try and learn something for next week,” continued David. “We made a real aggressive adjustment and got an idea on what we need as far as next week. It was a plus what we did on pit road, but it just wasn’t enough. If it was another 20-lap run, maybe we could have done something, but short laps, track position and it was tough to pass. The bottom line is we’re disappointed that we didn’t win, but our UPS team learned something for next week.”  

David and the team will race next Sunday in the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

On track at Lowe's Motor Speedway