David Ragan went into Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga. looking for a solid finish to kick off his tenure in the No. 18 M&M's Toyota.
Mission accomplished.
The Unadilla, GA driver, who is filling in for the injured Kyle Busch, finished 18th in his first outing in the Joe Gibbs Racing Camry. Ragan had moved up from his 17th starting spot, and at one point was racing in the top 10 before a series of long green flag runs cost the team the opportunity to adjust to changing track conditions.
"I was really thrilled," Ragan said. "The first 100 laps of the race, our M&M's Crispy Camry was fast, had speed and track position means a lot at any race and as we fell back a little bit and I think it was a snowball effect. We just really probably were a little behind on our adjustment and that's probably just my inexperience with these guys and being a little timid on making a few adjustments."
The early morning rains that hit the Atlanta area didn't work in Ragan's favor. Starting with a clean race track, as rubber built up on the track's surface, the car became loose, meaning the No. 18 team had to chase the set up on the car.
"We had some good speed, but we had lost too much ground," Ragan said. "All in all, a good weekend. We learned a lot, brought the car back in one piece, but we can run better than that. I felt like we had a good, solid top 10 car and things just didn't shake out."
Ragan said he's very encouraged moving forward.
"We've got some really good guys and so our first weekend
Monday
December 23rd, 2024
4:30AM
