By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(July 2, 2011)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Less than five months later, at the site of his biggest mistake, David Ragan got it right.
On the second attempt at a green-white-checkered-flag finish, Ragan was out front when caution flew on the 10th lap of overtime in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, giving the driver of the No. 6 Ford his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory.
At Daytona in February, Ragan gave away a chance to win the Daytona 500 when he changed lanes before the start/finish line on a restart. On Saturday, however, he got a strong push from Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth and won the race under caution when a massive wreck on the final lap brought out the final yellow flag.
Kenseth came home second, followed by Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch.
The race was a disaster for another of Ragan’s teammates, Carl Edwards, who entered the night with a 25-point lead in the Cup standings over second-place Kevin Harvick. As Edwards and Greg Biffle were moving to the outside to avoid contact with the tandem of Kurt Busch and Regan Smith on Lap 23, however, Edwards’ Ford spun across Biffle’s bumper and slid into the inside wall off Turn 4.
The impact broke the crush panels on the right side of Edwards’ car, and when he returned to the track, he was breathing carbon monoxide from the car’s exhaust. By the time his crew had addressed that problem, Edwards was eight laps down.
Edwards finished 37th, his second poor finish in the past four races. Edwards also finished 37th last month at Pocono.
The race wasn’t five laps old when it became obvious Trevor Bayne wouldn’t repeat as a Daytona winner in 2011. Pushed by Brad Keselowski’s No. 2 Dodge, Bayne’s Ford spun in Turn 1 and nosed into the outside wall.
With his car crippled by the impact, Bayne, the surprise winner of the Daytona 500, dropped out of the race. The cars of Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Burton, Jamie McMurray and Bobby Labonte all sustained damage during the incident, but only Labonte’s was severe enough to drop him from the lead lap.
Bayne, who started on the outside of the front row, drafted with Bowyer early on, but Bowyer left him to work with Burton, his Richard Childress Racing teammate.
“He dropped off to find the 31 (Burton), which we knew he was going to do, and as I was kind of falling through the field, we found the 2 car,” Bayne said. “He got to us and was pushing us down the frontstretch. I was still kind of lifting a little bit, letting him get to my bumper, and then I got back to the gas wide-open.
“I don’t know if I turned down more getting in or if he kind of came up across our bumper, but, either way, our bumpers caught wrong and it sent us spinning. You know that can happen here. It happens all the time, but it’s tough that it was our car.”
NASCAR® driver Tony Stewart will sport a colorful “Back-To-School” paint scheme on his No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala during Saturday night’s inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Series™ Quaker State 400 race at Kentucky Speedway (Saturday, July 9, 7:30 p.m. EDT, TNT).
