For David Ragan, his first victory in one of NASCAR’s top three touring series took a long time coming—196 races combined.
In a wild scramble at the finish, Ragan beat pole-sitter Ryan Newman to the stripe to win Saturday’s Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway, but the victory came at the expense of teammate Matt Kenseth, who barrel-rolled and slid on the roof of his No. 16 Ford after contact from Ragan’s No. 6 sent him out of control on Lap 105.
The crash that dulled some of the luster of Ragan’s win came 10 laps earlier, as Kenseth moved up the track on the backstretch to block Busch and then returned to the inside line in front of Ragan, who bumped Kenseth and started his teammate rolling and sliding toward Turn 3. Kenseth’s car burst into flames but righted itself, and Kenseth escaped unharmed
“It looked like Matt was going up the hill,” Ragan said. “They had a good run, and I thought that I had a good run on the bottom. He came back down about the time that I was there at his left-rear quarter. Certainly I feel bad for the No. 16 team and for [owner] Jack Roush. It cost them a good finish. We’ll chat a little bit, and I’m sure that we’ll move on.” NASCAR.com
“I felt David hit me and then the car just spun out,” Kenseth said. “I was just hanging on and hoping I would end right side up.” Kansas City Star
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