Victory Interview with David Ragan from NASCAR Nationwide Series at BMS
Attached is the audio file of the interview with race champ David Ragan along with a transcript and a link http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationwide/sets/72157622000649425/ to all the pictures we shot this weekend plus more that were not published. Nationwide will be at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal Sunday for the NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge. @Nationwide will be Twittering. Nancy Smeltzer Nationwide Insurance Communication Consultant (614) 249-4491 FAX: (614) 677-6802 Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nancy501 Follow Nationwide on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nationwide David Ragan NASCAR Nationwide Series Champion Interview – Bristol Motor Speedway In the Nationwide Series race at Bristol, David Ragan muscled his way past teammate Carl Edwards with 55 laps to go and then held him off in a double file green white checkered flag finish to win what turned out to be the Food City 254. While Edwards would have loved Ragan to be on the inside of row one on the final restart, the young Georgia driver said no way! David Ragan: There’s probably not enough money in this speedway to have made me chose the bottom. You’re going to be a sitting duck if you choose the bottom, just because you can’t get that momentum down the straight away. I knew I was going to choose the outside, I knew I was going to go as hard as I could. We’re just very fortunate that it just worked out; we didn’t have anyone try to wreck us the last few laps. It was a lot of fun to win here at Bristol, this is an exciting place. Carl Edwards: That last restart that was the best restart I could have. We drove into turn one, I was 10 inches behind David and that’s all I had so that one went well. And Carl Edwards was not complaining about the way Ragan made what turned out to be the winning pass, on lap 199. Edwards: He just got by me he had a better car and he played me just like he should have. He used the lap car and got me in a position and got me pinned and I couldn’t do anything about it and there at the end I thought on that last restart I’d have something for him but that was all I had, that was it. Anything more would have a little bit too risky I think. As Edwards did with him, Ragan tried to give his teammate a little extra room when they got to battling in tight quarters. Ragan: Racing your teammate, I’ve gotten in some trouble the last year or two. Racing teammates too hard and slipping up and making a mistake so I was certainly cautious of doing something that I shouldn’t do. Carl had a fast car and I don’t think I would have been able to pass him if it wasn’t for a long green flagged run. Our Discount Tire Ford really was stable from about the fifth lap on. We are very fortunate that the green flag racing worked out in our favor. A little nervous there, the last couple laps on that green white checker but our Ford Fusion was fast and it was a lot of fun to drive. After capturing the pole Brad Keselowski came home third, apologizing for taking out Justin Allgaier just after the rookie took the lead away from him on lap 36. Brad Keselowski: I got myself in trouble, I just was driving too hard too early, 100 percent my fault and got into Justin. Really felt bad for him, he looked like the car to beat tonight and I kind of ruined his day. I have to apologize to him first. But we rebounded from the trouble early on and just got up there to third and kind of just stuck there and Carl was just a touch better and David was just a touch better yet. Fourth was Kevin Harvick who led 91 laps and finishing fifth it was Matt Kenseth. Six to 10 it was Jason Leffler, Clint Bowyer, Mike Annett, Paul Menard and Michael McDowell. Championship leader Kyle Busch took the lead for one lap and then was whipped out by rookie driver, Chase Austin. Kyle Busch: I’ve made my share of mistakes and I don’t tend to cut the experienced guys much slack because we all should know better. Chase thought he was doing the right thing. He’s coming from late models which is what you do at late model races. If you have a problem you try to get down, get out of the way, you put your hand out of the window everybody knows that. But here when you’re going so fast, at a place like this with 34 hundred pound stock cars, wherever you are you just have to stay. You just have to stay up against the wall and hopefully he’s learned that and next time we won’t have that scenario. Busch had his Nationwide Series Championship lead over Carl Edwards cut from 339 to 248 points. For David Ragan it was his second Nationwide Series victory in 2009, the other came at Talladega. Ragan: This probably means just as much maybe a little more than that Talladega race. Anything can happen at Talladega you have to be position to win and here you have to have a fast car and just out drive them to win, so that makes me feel good. A full set of the pictures taken at Bristol Motor Speedway can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationwide/sets/72157622000649425/ The Nationwide Series will return this week to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal Sunday. Look for the audio interview following the NAPA Auto Parts 200 presented by Dodge. And don’t forget, Nationwide’s Media Team will be Twittering from the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. You can follow the Team’s whereabouts on the track at Twitter/Nationwide ( http://twitter.com/Nationwide). If there is a picture of someone or something you would like to see trackside, send your request to http://twitter.com/Nationwide. The team will try its best to get the shot. Pictures will be posted at http://www.twitpic.com/photos/nationwide