RAGAN DRIVES HIS UPS FORD TO A 20TH-PLACE FINISH IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

LOUDON, N.H. (June 27, 2010) – New Hampshire Motor Speedway is home to “Red Sox Nation,” which pulls in extra fans cheering for the Roush Fenway drivers thanks to the Fenway Sports Group connection. David Ragan led the way for the Roush Fenway drivers qualifying 19^th for the 301-lap race Sunday afternoon. From the drop of the green flag Ragan quickly realized his UPS Ford had a loose handling condition. Lengthy green flag runs didn’t allow for very many opportunities for adjustments, but the UPS team took advantage when they could and tweaked the handling for Ragan. By the end the UPS Ford was better and Ragan was able to avoid any late race cautions for a 20^th-place finish.

Right from the start Ragan started to pick up positions on the track when the loose handling condition that would plague him the whole race popped up. Ragan told crew chief Donnie Wingo his Ford was getting looser and looser up off the corners and had no forward bite. The first caution came on lap 35 for debris on the track. Ragan pitted for two tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. The two-tire pit strategy bumped them up into the top 10, but shortly after returning to green flag racing the loose handling condition returned.

A long green flag run was what was next in store for the field at New Hampshire. Ragan concentrated on making smooth turns and managed to stay inside the top 20. Wingo brought him down pit road under green on lap 107 for a routine stop, consisting of four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. The changes from both stops helped Ragan’s handling and now he was a little tighter through the center of the turns, but was still loose up off.

Another long green flag run led to more green flag stops for the field. Ragan pitted for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment, all in an attempt to continue to improve the handling on his UPS Ford. Through the course of the green flag stops Ragan lost a lap to the leaders. The second caution came out on lap 238 for oil on the track. Ragan needed his UPS Ford to cut better through the center of the turns, so Wingo gave him four tires, fuel and another track bar adjustment.

All the adjustments throughout the race made progress in the handling on Ragan’s UPS Ford, but nothing seemed to be exactly what he needed. Ragan survived a late race caution to earn a 20^th-place finish in New Hampshire, while Jimmie Johnson won the Lenox Industrial Tools 301.

“I felt like at times during the race, we were a little better, but even at our best, we were a top-15 car,” said Ragan. “When that last caution came out, it took a few laps for our UPS Ford to get up to speed. We made that call to stay out and there were a couple of others also that stayed out on our lap. We beat a couple of them, but we also let a couple of them get around us. If we had to do it all over again, I still think that was the right call, but we had a 15th to a 20th-place car today and that’s where we ran. It’s a little better than what we’ve run here in the past, so hopefully that means something when we come back here later in the season. As a company, we’ve still got to keep working on it, but again, a little better than what we’ve been in the past.”