It took two Davids, Ragan and Gilliland, to slay the NASCAR Goliaths at the rain- delayed race in Talladega on Sunday.
In fading light, after a three hour 45-minute delay, there was a green white checkered finish. The two unsung teammates came seemingly out of nowhere with Gilliland pushing Ragan to the win.
“This is special to get Front Row Motorsports their first win,” Ragan said. “A lot of these guys (on the team) have been to Victory Lane in all kinds of series. But to do it here at Talladega in 2013 … I couldn’t be more proud to play my role. It’s a huge, huge deal for us. I’ve got to thank David Gilliland. If it wasn’t for that final push from him, I don’t know what would have happened.”
It was Ragan’s second Sprint Cup victory.
Even though Gilliland finished second, he was nearly as excited as his teammate. “It’s been my dream since I came to Front Row to get (team owner) Bob Jenkins to Victory Lane,” Gilliland said. “This is about as much as I could help today. For an under-funded team to be able to come in here and finish 1-2 is just awesome. It’s a huge day for any team to get first and second, but for our little team, it’s a special day. I still want to get that first win, but we’ll take second for sure and get the first win for our team.”
Carl Edwards, who completed a three Ford sweep of the top three positions, was also surprised at the outcome. "That was crazy. I blocked everybody I could. I was doing everything I could. I blocked Matt (Kenseth) and I thought, ‘Oh, we’ve got it.’ And then I saw Jimmie coming and I blocked him and I thought, ‘Who is that back there?’ It was this Ford freight train coming and I just couldn’t stay in front of them. David did everything but wreck me. He did everything right and I still thought he was gonna wreck when he was looking in his mirror and he almost hit the apron and he wiggled coming to the line, so I thought we still might get this thing, but it’s awesome for David Ragan."
The finale was set up by an eleven-car wreck which was started when the cars of JJ Yeley and rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr. collided. A chain reaction sent Kurt Busch’s car airborne rolling over and landing on top of Ryan Newman’s car. Neither driver sustained a serious injury.
Kenseth, whose Toyota had dominated the race, leading 142 laps of the 192 laps run, led on the restart seemed to have Jimmie Johnson as his biggest rival.
Michael Waltrip, co-owner of MWR, finished fourth followed by the five-time champion, Johnson, who finished fifth and maintained the lead in the Sprint Cup standings by 41 points over Edwards, also was surprised to see Ragan and Gilliland make the late charge through traffic coming toward the tri-oval.
“I thought the race would be settled between me and (Edwards and Kenseth), but then those two guys came up on us so fast,” said Johnson, who finished fifth. “I could see Carl trying to block, and he finally said there’s no real way to block this speed that they’re bringing, and those two went blowing by. It’s really cool for that team.”
There was also a 16-car wreck earlier in the race.
In fading light, after a three hour 45-minute delay, there was a green white checkered finish. The two unsung teammates came seemingly out of nowhere with Gilliland pushing Ragan to the win.
“This is special to get Front Row Motorsports their first win,” Ragan said. “A lot of these guys (on the team) have been to Victory Lane in all kinds of series. But to do it here at Talladega in 2013 … I couldn’t be more proud to play my role. It’s a huge, huge deal for us. I’ve got to thank David Gilliland. If it wasn’t for that final push from him, I don’t know what would have happened.”
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| David Ragan. (Photo: NASCAR) |
It was Ragan’s second Sprint Cup victory.
Even though Gilliland finished second, he was nearly as excited as his teammate. “It’s been my dream since I came to Front Row to get (team owner) Bob Jenkins to Victory Lane,” Gilliland said. “This is about as much as I could help today. For an under-funded team to be able to come in here and finish 1-2 is just awesome. It’s a huge day for any team to get first and second, but for our little team, it’s a special day. I still want to get that first win, but we’ll take second for sure and get the first win for our team.”
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| David Ragan at the press conference. (Caption: NASCAR) |
Carl Edwards, who completed a three Ford sweep of the top three positions, was also surprised at the outcome. "That was crazy. I blocked everybody I could. I was doing everything I could. I blocked Matt (Kenseth) and I thought, ‘Oh, we’ve got it.’ And then I saw Jimmie coming and I blocked him and I thought, ‘Who is that back there?’ It was this Ford freight train coming and I just couldn’t stay in front of them. David did everything but wreck me. He did everything right and I still thought he was gonna wreck when he was looking in his mirror and he almost hit the apron and he wiggled coming to the line, so I thought we still might get this thing, but it’s awesome for David Ragan."
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| Photo: NASCAR |
The finale was set up by an eleven-car wreck which was started when the cars of JJ Yeley and rookie Ricky Stenhouse Jr. collided. A chain reaction sent Kurt Busch’s car airborne rolling over and landing on top of Ryan Newman’s car. Neither driver sustained a serious injury.
Kenseth, whose Toyota had dominated the race, leading 142 laps of the 192 laps run, led on the restart seemed to have Jimmie Johnson as his biggest rival.
Michael Waltrip, co-owner of MWR, finished fourth followed by the five-time champion, Johnson, who finished fifth and maintained the lead in the Sprint Cup standings by 41 points over Edwards, also was surprised to see Ragan and Gilliland make the late charge through traffic coming toward the tri-oval.
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| Photo: NASCAR |
“I thought the race would be settled between me and (Edwards and Kenseth), but then those two guys came up on us so fast,” said Johnson, who finished fifth. “I could see Carl trying to block, and he finally said there’s no real way to block this speed that they’re bringing, and those two went blowing by. It’s really cool for that team.”
There was also a 16-car wreck earlier in the race.