David Ragan does his part in a special day for Joe Gibbs Racing
For the first time since 2013, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota finished in the top five at Martinsville Speedway.
This time, though, it was David Ragan piloting the car while filling in for the injured Kyle Busch, who is out indefinitely.
Part of an impressive run for JGR -- which also saw Denny Hamlin earn the win and Matt Kenseth finish fourth -- Ragan had a solid day all around and was a constant figure in the top 10 for the second half of the race.
In the end, Ragan earned his first top-five finish in the No. 18 Toyota, and first since winning at Talladega Superspeedway in May 2013.
While speaking with the media on pit road, team owner Joe Gibbs walked over to Ragan, put his arm around him and congratulated him on the strong run.
"Great job, awesome," Gibbs said to his substitute driver.
"I thought David did a great job today," Gibbs later said of Ragan. "He told me before the race -- him and his dad, we were standing there talking -- he goes, 'Hey, I like short tracks. I grew up on them.' And he certainly raced that way today. We're hoping for the same thing for him for his career and everything."
Ragan said Gibbs' comments meant a lot, and mentioned that all the JGR drivers were motivated to do well because of the medical issue facing Joe Gibbs' son and JGR team president J.D. Gibbs. The younger Gibbs is undergoing treatment symptoms impacting areas of brain function.
"He patted me on the butt like he does those football players," Ragan said with a smile. "Coach Gibbs is certainly the leader of this team, and on a week when our thoughts and prayers are with J.D. Gibbs, and his family and his children, it's certainly great to see Denny get a win for them at a track that has been good to them -- at really a track that has been good for them over the years, but they've struggled a bit at in the last couple races. This is a Chase race in the fall, so hopefully when Kyle is back it's a comfortable race for him to come back to."
Stepping into a difficult situation substituting for Busch starting at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Ragan said he and the No. 18 team "under-performed" over the past few weeks.
"It means a lot going forward," Ragan said of his strong performance this weekend. "It means that we're capable of this type of run. I knew it all along, even the first race at Atlanta we had good speed. We've had top-10 cars, but we haven't been able to put together the entire weekend. We've had mistakes on Fridays and Saturdays, and mistakes on Sundays. In order to run in the top five or have a chance to win these Sprint Cup races, you've got to have a perfect weekend."
VIDEO: Highlights from Sunday's STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway
