David Ragan (Ronda Greer Photo)

David Ragan came to Kentucky on the heels of a sixth place finish in Kansas last weekend looking for more of the same success. It was the best finish of the up-and-coming driver's career, and his second top 10 finish in the last three races behind the wheel of the No. 6 Scotts Ford F-150.

Ragan started the Built Ford Tough 225 in the fifth position, flanked by teammates Michel Jourdain, Jr. in fourth and Erik Darnell in sixth. Ragan picked up a position as the field took to the backstretch, but was forced to slow down as fast as he'd sped up when a wreck involving three trucks put the field under caution on just the first lap. The race restarted on lap six, with Ragan continuing on in fourth.

The Scotts Ford would continue running in the top five for the first portion of green flag racing, but would come to pit road when the caution flag came out at lap 28. Ragan came in and his Scotts crew went to work, adding fuel and making a track bar adjustment. The No. 6 would line up 10th on the restart, going back to racing on lap 33.

Ragan began his climb back to the front, moving up to the sixth position by lap 39.

"The truck will not turn in traffic," he reported to his crew. "If we can get out in clean air, this thing is going to be fast!"

Ragan would move to the fourth position on lap 46 but would relinquish his track position when the caution came out at lap 49, when he pitted for tires and fuel. Some trouble on the pit stop for the No. 6 crew would have Ragan restarting the race in the 16th position.

Ragan made up for the lost positions when the field went back to racing, moving up to the sixth spot by lap 79. Ragan consistently recorded the fastest lap times on the track, and would move to the fifth spot on lap 82. Ragan continued to advance positions when the leaders came to pit road for green flag pit stops, and he would take the lead at lap 100. Ragan would hold the spot until he had to come to pit road at lap 119 for tires and fuel.

An untimely caution flew at lap 122, trapping the No. 6 one lap down to the leader, as the cycle of pit stops had not yet been completed. Fortunately for the Scotts crew, Ragan was the first truck one lap down, and was awarded the "Lucky Dog" free pass, bringing him back on the lead lap. Ragan would restart the race in the eighth position at lap 127, but a quick caution would place the field under an extended caution period. Ragan was forced to ride for nine laps, and knew that precious time was quickly passing, limiting his chances to contend for the win.

"These cautions are killing us," said Ragan. "If we could get back to racing, I think we'd have something for 'em, but we need to run these laps under green!"

When the race finally restarted, Ragan mounted a charge, but ran out of laps. He would settle for fifth, but knew his Scotts Ford was capable of more.

"I felt like we had the truck to win," said Ragan. "The Scotts Ford F-150 was really awesome on long runs, just like it has been the last few weeks. Those late cautions got us. If we would have had 15 more laps to go at the end, I think we could have dealt with some of those guys at the front. It seemed like I passed them two or three times already tonight. The truck races here…we've got so many cautions that everybody gets off pit sequence, so it was kind of a lucky deal at the end of the race. I know we were stronger than a lot of the guys in front of us, but we'll take what we got, we're happy to get a top five finish out of this."