Front Row Motorsports earned its first NASCAR victory Sunday night at Talladega Superspeedway when #38-David Gilliland pushed teammate #34-David Ragan to the checkers in a dramatic last-lap surge to cap off a wild and rain-interrupted race. Ragan earned Bob Jenkins young team its first Sprint Cup Series win and Gilliland finished second for the best and most dramatic finish in team history. The ending came in the form of a green-white-checkered finish, in which Ragan and Gilliland restarted in 10th and 11th respectively. In two laps, the pair freight-trained through the traffic in their Roush Yates-powered Ford Fusions to emerge at the front of the pack seemingly out of nowhere and to the surprise and delight of the rain-soaked crowd. The win is the second Sprint Cup victory for Ragan, and the runner-up finish ties Gillilands best career result. The milestone event put partners Farm Rich (#34) and Loves Travel Stops (#38) in the spotlight in their first season working with Front Row Motorsports. ‘This is a true David vs. Goliath moment here’ Ragan said. ‘This is special to get Front Row Motorsports their first win. It feels like Ive never been in Victory Lane before, Im so excited. Were a small team. We build our own chassis, our own bodies, and its such a special moment for our team and all of our partners. This is big.” For Jenkins, whose passion for racing led him to purchase a small NASCAR team in 2004, the Victory Lane champagne was long, and patiently, awaited. ‘Ive got guys at the shop that have the heart to win races’ Jenkins said. ‘We just havent always had the resources. So the challenge for me is, as we build cars, to make them better every week and to put ourselves in a position to win a race and thats really what happened (Sunday). Its just so satisfying to see that over the last nine years, weve gotten a little bit better every single year, and I felt the progress and I knew it was just a matter of time before wed win one of these things.” ‘My crew chief, Frank Kerr, said, ‘Youve got to have the restart of your life, and we had a good one’ remarked Gilliland. ‘Its a huge day obviously for any team to get first and second, but for Front Row Motorsports and our little team, and what we do it with, were really proud of that.” Gilliland owned the teams previous best finish, a third-place showing in the 2011 Daytona 500. #35-Josh Wise earned a commendable finish Sunday in his first full Sprint Cup race at Talladega, bringing home a top-20 finish after crossing the line 19th.( Front Row Motorsports )
