Eventful run for Ragan ends in flames after contact with Edwards
Michael Waltrip Racing's David Ragan was involved in a second incident in Sunday's Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway on Lap 78 of the 110-lap event.
The incident occurred after a restart with 32 laps to go as he and Carl Edwards raced side-by-side through the esses in Turn 8 and 8A.
As the pair raced through the right-hand corner of 8A, Edwards' car caught the curbing, lifted on two tires and door-slammed Ragan's No. 55 Toyota. The two cars hooked together and hit nose-first into the Jersey barriers before making contact with the tire barriers.
Ragan was initially able to drive away from the incident, but the car caught fire, forcing him from the car.
After walking from the infield care center, Edwards apologized to his team and took blame for the incident that sent the defending race winner to the garage.
"I hate it for Toyota, TRD, everybody that's involved in this," Edwards said. "David and I were just close racing trying to get through those esses and it looks like my left rear hit his right rear. I wondered why it pitched the car so hard. I thought worst case we were just going to bump doors. That's probably my fault there."
Ragan said the incident was the product of hard racing on the restarts, similar to what Martin Truex Jr. said in the day's earlier incident with the MWR driver.
"On these restarts that's really where you can gain or lose a lot. If you give an inch, a lot of guys take a mile," Ragan said after leaving the infield care center. "I really knew that we were both putting ourselves in a bad situation right there, it's tight through there. But if I give a little bit to Carl, three or four are going to get around me."
One of the nicest guys in the Sprint Cup garage, Ragan said he had to stand his ground in order to keep his No. 55 team in contention for the win.
"You've got to be aggressive on these restarts, and I felt like I was in a good spot there," he said. "We were 50-50 and just racing for a spot, and it's just one of those things. I don't regret what I did and if I had to do it all over again I would do it again. A lot of times I'm too conservative and give these guys too much and they'll take everything, plus some. I'm glad I held my own."
Michael Waltrip Racing
