David Ragan Wins the Food City 250
August 26, 2009 by Warren Hayashi
Filed under Racing
The lights were shining above David Ragan on Friday night as he held off Roush Fenway Racing teammate Carl Edwards during green-white-checkered-flag finish to take the win in the Food City 250 Nationwide Series race held at Bristol Motor Speedway outside of Bristol, Tennessee.
David Ragan beats Carl Edwards and the rest of the pack to the line
Ragan was in the front of the pack for the last 56 laps of the scheduled 250 mile race on the .533-mile surface of Bristol Motor Speedway. He was able to hold off Carl Edwards during the last few laps and pulled ahead of Edwards to stay in the final few corners. Edwards has a lot to be happy about as he reduced Kyle Busch’s lead in the Nationwide Series standings from 339 to 248 points. Kyle Busch on the other hand had a hard day and finished 28th, 59 laps down, after his chances to win the Food City 250 was ruined by an early accident that left him running slower and behind.
Ragan’s smile was apparent as he came to the podium and he obviously had a lot of fun winning and racing in such a fast car. He raced on the outside line for the final restart that saw the race go 4 laps beyond the scheduled 250 miles. The inside lane of the track was slower all day long and the racers quickly figured this out and it was a battle to see who had the top line. It actually looked like Carl had the faster car with just four laps remaining but Ragan was able to pin Carl behind a lapped car. The race actually ended under caution due to an accident on the final lap that froze the running order in place with Ragan still in the lead.
Ragan played out the scene as he should have and he deserves credit for being able to win despite having a slower car. Ragan first passed Edwards for the lead on Lap 199 of the 254 they raced and he held the lead through a caution on Lap 243, which set up the two lap race to the finish.
Pole-sitter Brad Keselowski finished third, Kevin Harvick was fourth, and Matt Kenseth finished fifth, while Jason Leffler finished sixth. Clint Bowyer was seventh, Michael Annett eighth, Paul Menard ninth, while Michael McDowell rounded out the top ten.
“Image: Zuma Press”
