Roush Fenway driver David Ragan took his first ever win in the NASCAR Nationwide series as he battled Ryan Newman in a green-white –checker finish to win the Aarons 312 at the Talladega Superspeedway.
Ragan who started off the point in the overtime restart joined the rest of the top five drivers in a game of follow the leader as Dale Earnhardt Jr. led the field though the final lap.
The field broke pack as the cars entered the tri-oval towards the checkered flag with pole sitter Ryan Newman having the advantage.
Ragan held momentum with a push form Joey Longano and moved along side Newman, making contact and pulling forward to take the win 0.030 seconds.
“I was kind of content with a top five,” said Ragan, who restarted fourth for the final two laps.
“No one seemed to be able to really run on the outside and really push hard. I’ve got to give credit to Joey Longano.”
Ragan celebrated in victory lane with his team and his mother and father. His father, a former driver was hospitalized following a crash in an ARCA event at the track twenty years previous.
The win was Ragan’s first came in his eighty-forth start in the series.
Ragan was followed in by Newman and Joey Longano. Tony Raines had a career day finishing fourth with Dale Earnhardt Jr. rounding out the top five.
In classic Talladega fashion, the event saw 33 lead changes among 15 drivers.
The race was slowed six times for caution, but escaped the “big one” that allowed for 32 cars running on the final lap.
There were some scary moments, most notably a lap 65 incident that saw Matt Kenseth barrel role down the end of the back stretch.
Kenseth who was jockeying for position came up the track and made contact with point’s leader Kyle Busch. After making contact Kenseth ducked back into the lower line and was slammed by the eventual race winner David Ragan. Kenseth then went for a wild ride flipping several times and sliding on his roof. The steep banking in turn three righted the car and Kenseth escaped uninjured.
Busch had to make an unscheduled pit stop to repair damage to a rear quarter panel, regulating him to the back of the pack.
Busch fought back to a top ten finish to maintain the points lead by 62 markers over Carl Edwards.
As the season progresses five of the top six in points are full time Nationwide competitors with eighty markers separating the top three (Busch, Edwards, Ragan)
Next week the series goes short track racing as the cars head to Richmond International Raceway for a Friday night event.
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