David Ragan wins the Coke Zero 400; Busch & Gordon rebound; Dale Jr fired up
David Ragan loves it when a plan comes together, it hasn’t always been that way in his NASCAR career, especially not at the Daytona International Speedway.
But in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400, Ragan and his Roush Fenway Racing teammate, Matt Kenseth, agreed to work together the entire race and it paid off nicely – with a one-two finish. It was Ragan’s first victory in 163 Sprint Cup starts.
David Ragan was leading earlier this year at the Daytona 500 until a late restart cost him dearly. Ragan switched lanes before he passed the start/finish line and got black flagged.
The victory couldn’t have come at a better time for Ragan or for his team. His sponsor, UPS, is not signed beyond this season and Ragan’s footing with the team has been on shaky ground, depending on whether the sponsor returned or another could be found.
A victory certainly will help his case.
“David has arrived at the upper echelon. He’s a winner now and he’s given a win to UPS and, hopefully, they’ll consider that as they think about the value of the program,” said Ragan’s team owner, Jack Roush.
“It certainly means a lot to us, but to finally have David in the win column is a really big thing.”
Aside from Ragan picking up his first Sprint Cup win, lots of action happened in the last 5 laps of the Coke Zero 400. As expected, the beginning of the race was the calm before the storm. Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon worked together from lap 1 to lap 159–when Gordon got taken out by Kasey Kahne, but somehow saved his car and kept going. It was one of the best saves I have ever witnessed in the Sprint Cup Series. There’s been a lot of good saves throughout the years, but this one has to rank towards the top. Meanwhile, Gordon pitted and went all the way back to the 30th position with only a Green-White-Checkered remaining. Then disaster happened, with about 15 cars or more involved, Gordon managed to get through the mayhem and went from the 30th position to 17th with the second Green-White-Checkered still to go. Gordon originally planned to work with teammate Jimmie Johnson to try and work his way back up to the front with only one lap remaining, there Gordon ditched teammate Jimmie Johnson and found Kyle Busch, who was in the same wreck that Gordon was involved in, both were at the very back. Once Gordon found Busch they shot through the field to finish 5th and 6th. Coming to the checkered, another big wreck ensued involving Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and several others. Earnhardt Jr and Johnson went on to finish the race spinning in the grass backwards–in the 19th and 20th position.
That left Dale Earnhardt Jr more than frustrated after the race, voicing his displeasure–again on how much he hates the two-car-tango calling it a “foolish fricken race.”
Earnhardt Jr. was particularly frustrated after a couple of developments late in the race. First, drafting partner Jimmie Johnson was called into the pits for a late stop while Earnhardt Jr. stayed out on the track, and the pair was broken up, ultimately ending with both drivers spinning.
“I’m driving my car, do what I’m told,” he said. “They decided to do something different. I can’t run the whole damn thing from the seat of the damn race car. I’m just doing what I’m told out there. I don’t know how that affected us, if it did at all. It probably didn’t.”
After the media asked Dale Earnhardt Jr., his opinion of the nights racing, Jr laid it all on the line.
“You guys need to get your own frickin’ opinions and write what y’all think about it,” he said. “Because I think (those opinions are) pretty damn close to mine. So stop putting my damn foot in my mouth with y’all and getting my ass in trouble. Y’all write what y’all think, man. C’mon. Y’all are good. Y’all got an opinion about it; I read y’all’s shit.”
Earnhardt Jr has been very vocal lately, more so than usual–with teammate Mark Martin at Michigan and now the two-car-tango at Talladega and Daytona.
Maybe the 110-race winless streak is starting to get the best of Jr?
Coke Zero 400 top 10:
1. David Ragan
2. Matt Kenseth
3. Joey Logano
4. Kasey Kahne
5. Kyle Busch
6. Jeff Gordon
7. Kevin Harvick
8. Paul Menard
9. Juan Pablo Montoya
10. A.J. Allmendinger