2011 AAron's 499

One of NASCAR's longest days produced one of its unlikeliest winners.

David Ragan, a journeyman from Unadilla, Ga., who has toiled in Sprint Cup Series obscurity for seven seasons, burst into victory lane Sunday by snookering Carl Edwards with a last-lap pass to win the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.

"This is a true David vs. Goliath moment here," said Ragan, whose No. 34 Ford earned the first victory for Front Row Motorsports, one of the most underfunded teams in NASCAR's premier series.

The 27-year-old Ragan earned his second career Sprint Cup win, and both came at restrictor-plate tracks. Ragan also won the July 2011 Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

Teammate David Gilliland, who finished second after delivering critical drafting pushes to Ragan in a two-lap overtime finish, said Front Row often skimps on tires and concedes it can't beat the powerhouse teams at most of the tracks.

"We're up against it every week," Gilliland said.

The underdog win was popular among peers. When told over his radio that Ragan had won, points leader Jimmie Johnson responded, "That's awesome."

Matt Kenseth, who led a race-high 142 of 192 laps but finished eighth, said, "It was a good run but a really disappointing finish. Congratulations to David and David. It's always good to see the underdogs win."

Said Edwards: "As frustrated as I am by loss, I'm really happy for (Ragan and Gilliland). I see how hard teams have to work to be competitive at this level. It truly couldn't happen to two better guys."

Edwards, whose Ford led entering the final lap after passing Matt Kenseth's dominant Toyota, had

victory snatched away twice. He was leading when the race was red-flagged on Lap 130 for more than 3½ hours because of two downpours that likely would have shortened the event in the past. But NASCAR managed to dry the 2.66-mile track in less than two hours using a new Air Titan drying system that relies on compressed air.

The long wait, which resulted in a race time of 7 hours, 5 minutes, still might have left some drivers feeling especially rankled about the finish, starting with the defending series champion. Brad Keselowski tweeted that Ragan gained an advantage by changing lanes before the final restart (which isn't allowed), posting "I'm happy as hell a small team won. Doesn't change the fact that the restart was blatantly wrong."

Ryan Newman also wasn't pleased after getting caught in an 11-car crash that set up the green-white-checkered finish in fading daylight. Kurt Busch's No. 78 Chevrolet flipped and landed wheels first on Newman's No. 39, marking the second time in four years that Newman has had a car land on his hood at Talladega. Newman was also involved in the crash that launched Edwards' Ford into the catch fence in 2009.

"They can build safer cars; they can build safer walls," Newman said. "They can't get their heads out of their (butts) far enough to keep the cars on the racetrack. Pretty disappointing. … That's no way to end a race. Poor judgment and running in the dark and running in the rain."

No one was injured in the crash, which also collected notable contenders Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon and Danica Patrick.

The red flag was lifted after 3 hours, 36 minutes of drying in between two rainstorms. The final 63 laps of the race

seemed in doubt for much of the afternoon, but the debut of NASCAR's new Air\ Titan drying system might have prevented it from becoming only the second rain-shortened race in the 35-year history of Talladega.

The new system relies on 17 diesel-powered air compressors to push water to the apron, where it is vacuumed by a sweeper truck.

After a brief shower caused a red flag after 125 of 188 laps, the track was nearly dry when a much stronger storm cell struck at around 4 ET. Track drying on the 2.66-mile oval began about an hour later, and it took roughly two hours to complete — shaving about 90 minutes off how long it took to dry when only jet dryers had been employed in the past.

Edwards started from the pole position but didn't lead until lap 122 when he passed Roush Fenway Racing rookie teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. for first in Turn 1. The caution flag flew seconds later, freezing the field, and NASCAR displayed the red flag three laps later for the downpour.

Several contenders were eliminated in a 16-car crash on Lap 43. The pileup began when Kyle Busch bumped Kasey Kahne, turning the No. 5 Chevrolet into heavy contact with the Turn 1 wall.

The wreck was reminiscent of a multicar crash in the Daytona 500 that also was triggered by contact between Busch and Kahne.

"I just kind of got shot through the centre there, just a lot of momentum coming from behind," Kahne said. "Felt (Busch) pushing me and next thing I know, I was spinning. You just can't push with these cars. We learned that at Daytona, he was pushing me and spun me in the wall and then happened again, so that is what it is."

Busch's No. 18 Toyota also was damaged badly in the wreck, which also collected Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Greg Biffle, Marcos Ambrose, Jeff Burton, David Stremme, Kurt Busch, David Reutimann, Casey Mears, Scott Speed, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon.

"I guess I was trying to go to the outside of (Kahne), but he just moved up in front of me and I wasn't expecting it," Kahne said. "I just hate that I caused a hell of a melee for everybody. I hate that. A lot of cars got torn up and it's way too early in the race to be doing any of those sorts of moves whether he made it or I made it."

After the wreck, Stewart, Burton, Vickers (who had substituted for Denny Hamlin on the previous caution), Biffle and Busch were outside the top 30 and multiple laps down. Kahne's car was out in 42nd.

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