David Ragan and the UPS team were waiting for the rain along with the rest of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series field as they made their pace laps at Pocono Raceway. And what started out as a scattered shower just as the green flag was scheduled to drop, turned into a torrential downpour that soaked the 2.5-mile track. Luckily, the sun came out to help speed up the drying process and the race was delayed for less than two hours.

When the track was clear and drivers were back in their cars, David lined up to take the green flag from the 35th position. Immediately after the race began, David radioed to the team that his UPS Ford was very tight and didn’t have much grip. Donnie Wingo and the crew made track bar adjustments during the next few pit stops to help David’s car, but the No. 6 Ford continued to be a challenge to drive. As the race progressed and the track began to cool down, the changes the team continued to make began to make a difference in the car.

David did go a lap down twice during the race, but Donnie kept David out on the track both times to get the wave around. In both instances, that strategy paid off as David was able to get back and stay on the lead lap for the remainder of the race.

On lap 167, David and Jamie McMurray made contact after drivers made it three-wide going into the corner. The contact didn’t result in any damage to David’s car, but he did come into the pits to top off with fuel and for the team to check his right side for damage.

The caution came out  late in the race with just two laps to go as Kevin Harvick turned Joey Logano while both were racing inside of the top five. That caution set up a green-white-checker finish. As the leaders took the white flag for the final lap of the race, a multi-car wreck on the backstretch happened right in front of David. He did receive some damage to his UPS Ford, but he was able to make it back around to the finish line to finish 26th.

“From the first run to the last run, our UPS Ford was really all over the track today,” said David after the race. “Donnie Wingo and the guys made some great calls in the pits to get us back on the lead lap, but that last wreck at the end was really the knife through the heart. I thought we could have finished in the top 20 had it not been for that last wreck. I don’t know what happened in the front of the field, but we got slowed down in the middle of the pack and the track was basically stopped. I’m definitely glad that Pocono is over. We’ll go back to the shop and learn some things from this, but I’m looking forward to going to Michigan next weekend.”

David and the UPS team head to Jack Roush and Ford Racing’s home track of Michigan International Speedway. The Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at the two-mile track will air on TNT at 1 pm on Sunday.