UPS RACING

It’s hard to believe that the season is over. First off, I want to say thanks to all of you fans that have supported our team throughout the year. I’ll be keeping in touch with blogs over the offseason to keep you guys up to date with what I’m up to, so be sure to check back often to the site. We have photo shoots and commercial shoots coming up over the next two weeks, so we’re keeping things rolling through the holidays.

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

David Ragan and the UPS team had their work cut out for them on Sunday as they started the Ford 400 from the 41st position. They got to work pretty quickly and moved up to the 25th position without much trouble. The No. 6 UPS Ford was very loose for the first-half of the race, and didn’t turn too well in the corners. After having a tire go down mid-race, the UPS team finished the season finale in 34th position.

“Our car was pretty free for most of the race,” said David. “We kept making adjustments that would help a little bit, but we just weren’t able to get the car to turn good in the corners. We unloaded pretty quick off the truck this weekend, but after Friday’s practice, we couldn’t get back up towards the front.”

On lap 162, the team’s spotter reported seeing smoke coming from David’s car. He spent one more lap out on the track, but the smoke continued and forced David into the pits under the green flag. The team put on new left-side tires and got David back out on track, but not before going a lap down behind the leaders. David battled to get up into position to receive the Lucky Dog Award, but was never able to get in that spot. He finished the race one lap behind the leaders.

David was the only Ford Racing driver competing Sunday night with the new FR9 engine. This was the first non-restrictor plate track the engine has competed on.

“We didn’t have the car handling well enough to be a contender, but the engine performed great,” continued David. “It got great fuel mileage and it’ll be interesting to see what Doug Yates and the guys say when we get back to the shop. They will have all winter to look at it and I think we’ll be good to go in Daytona for the FR9.”

David finished the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season in 27th position.

“It’s definitely not the way we wanted to end the season, but our UPS team worked hard all year and they never gave up. I’m really looking forward to next year.”

David during the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway