Ragan Wins Wild One at BMS

BRISTOL, Tenn. – David Ragan faced a important choice late Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

After a caution with eight laps remaining set up a dash to the finish, Ragan opted to take the outside lane against Roush Fenway Racing teammate Carl Edwards on the double-file restart of a green-white-checkered finish.

“I felt like a field-goal kicker there at the end because they kept calling off the restart,” Ragan said. “All the tension was on me. It was just a matter of staying calm and not making any mistakes.”

Ragan made the right choice, holding off Edwards to win the Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The race was extended by three laps because of the caution period.

“Man, the outside lane was just great all night,” Ragan said. “I don’t think there was enough money in this speedway to make me choose that bottom. I just didn’t want to miss a shift or anything because I knew we had the car to beat.”

Racing against his teammate just compounded the excitement, Ragan said.

“I had a lot of fun racing with Carl,” Ragan said. “I was able to pin him behind a lapped car. I don’t think I would have passed him without that because he was running that middle groove and I just couldn’t get around him.”

Ragan said he realized that he had a car capable of winning around lap 150.

“We’re usually mediocre here, but my crew did a great job,” said Ragan, who led the final 56 laps. “It was a fun night to drive such a fast race car.”

Edwards was impressed with the savvy of Ragan. Just seconds before race resumed, Ragan joked that he was listening to country music on his radio.

“David just had a better car,” Edwards said. “I thought I would have something for him on that last restart, but that was all I had.

“The double-file restarts were tough. But I thought I worked out pretty well tonight.”

The race ended under caution after a wreck involving Scott Wimmer and Stephen Wallace. Brad Keseloswki, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five.

“We avoided all the adversity there at the beginning of the race, said Harvick, who led a total of 91 laps. “We came in first and went out second. but we just gave it away on pit road.”

Keseloswki pointed to the approach of Ragan, whose father Ken was a longtime NASCAR competitor.

“[Ragan] is like an old man in a young guy’s body,” Keselowki said. “I don’t know where he gets it.”

Keselowski earned the pole with a lap of 15.915 seconds at 120.566 miles per hour, then led the first 35 laps before his Chevrolet suffered front damage after making contact with the Justin Allgaier car on lap 36.

Keselowski was the talk of the garage Friday afternoon, as reports leaked out that he was leaving the Hendrick Motorsports team next season to replace David Stremme in the No. 12 Dodge for the Penske Racing.

Keseloswki avoided the question early Friday. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who owns the car that Keselowki drives in the Nationwide Series, opted not to comment on Keselowski’s status.

“I ain’t got nothing to really say about it,” Earnhardt said. “We will just have to see what happens.”

Ironically, Allgaier drives for the Penske organization.

Nationwide Series points leader Kyle Busch charged from 15th to fifth over the first 35 laps. Just seconds after grabbing the lead from Kevin Harvick on the 52nd lap, Busch was slammed by the Chase Austin car. According to his car owner Armando Fitz, Austin was attempting to come into the pits after cutting a left front tire on his car.

Busch, who entered the race with a 339-point lead in Nationwide Series points, took his nightmare in stride.

“I don’t know exactly what happened,” said Busch, who finished 28th. “The [Austin] car had a problem there and came across traffic right in front of the leader. I couldn’t pitch my car any lower. I was cranked all the way to the left.

“It’s just unfortunate for my team. We had a fast car and quit practice early. We were coming right to the front, and just got wadded up there. I hate it for the fans.”

Austin actually put a hand out the window of his car in an attempt to signal other drivers of his tire issues, but the tire issue basically forced the steering wheel from his hand.

“I was on the radio telling my spotter about the tire,” Austin said. “I was trying to straighten out my car, but it just went shooting down the track. I feel bad for Kyle.”

After he heard the cheers of the fans, Austin said he realized he had made contact with the Busch car.

“I heard a lot of fans, so I guess they were happy about that,”Austin said.

Sprint Cup regular Reed Sorenson also became entangled in the incident, which caused the race to be halted for 15 minutes due to a red-flag condition. Sorenson was not as forgiving as Austin.

“It was a pretty stupid move,” Sorenson said. “Stuff like that happens here.”

Harvick took control when the race resumed, and navigated through the field. There were just 13 cars on the lead lap by lap 130.

Busch, who had finished among the top three in the last 11 Nationwide races, managed to bring his damaged car back on the track and managed place finish.

Kenseth brought out the first caution with a spin on the seventh lap. There were five cautions over the first 63 laps, and a total of nine for the entire race

Coeburn’s Danny O’Quinn recorded a 32nd-place finish while Abingdon’s Eric McClure finished 25th.

O’Quinn was running in the 14th position on midway through the race when he slammed into the spinning car driven by 18-year-old rookie Trevor Bayne of Knoxville. Harvick caused the incident by bumping into back of the Bayne car.

Brad Teague, of Johnson City, Tenn., made his 27th start at BMS. Teague, driving for former Winston Cup competitor Jimmy Means, started 36th and finished 34th.

Morgan Shepherd, the series oldest competitor at 67, smacked the outside wall in Turn 2 on his first qualifying lap and was among six drivers who failed to qualify. That list included former Camping World Series regular Dennis Setzer and Kertus Davis.