* David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 Fusion was the top Ford in Saturday’s NASCAR Busch Series race at Gateway International Raceway by finishing in sixth. Ragan’s teammate, Carl Edwards, continues to sit atop the series standings with an 852-point lead.
   * John Force made it all the way to the final round of the Shuck’s Auto Supply NHRA Nationals in Seattle, Washington in his Mustang Funny Car. Force continues to move up in the standings and now sits in eighth.

DEARBORN, Mich., July 22 – David Ragan enjoyed a productive weekend at Gateway International Raceway as his sixth place was the best finish by a rookie driver in the Gateway 250. His effort added to his first place cushion in the rookie standings and moves him up one spot to fourth place the NASCAR Busch Series standings.

Despite his advance in the standings and performance on the track, Ragan felt the result could have been better.

“We didn’t have any track position the whole race,” Ragan said. “Pit stops were average, at best. We just couldn’t seem to pass any cars on pit road. Our car was pretty good. I felt like at one time, it might have been the car to beat, if we could have had good track position up front.”

Ragan is now 87 points behind Kevin Harvick for third place in the points.

“At the end of the race, I thought the car was pretty strong. It wasn’t where we needed to be; it was a good run. We would have like to have been up there battle the guys for the win but we’ll take it and move on to next week. Everyone was racing real hard. This was good Saturday night short track racing.”

Carl Edwards finished right behind Ragan in sixth place and increase his lead in the standings to 852 points.

Todd Kluever just missed placing another Fusion in the top ten with his 11 th place finish.

“It was a long night,” Kluever said. “We had a really good car. We had a better car than what we finished with, unfortunately. It’s so hard to pass here with the gear rolls and stuff, that’s the way it is. We got a little off on our pit sequence there and probably cost ourselves quite a bit of track position. If you look at how we run at flatter tracks like Milwaukee and Loudon, we come here and actually have a really decent car. I’m really proud of my guys. All in all, not a bad night, but we’ve run better.”

The NHRA Funny Car Series competed in Seattle, Washington this weekend, and John Force made it all the way to the final round in his Castrol GTX Mustang before losing to Jack Beckman. While not seeing victory for the second time this season, Force’s finish moves him up to eighth the standings.

“My ‘ol hot rod’s back,” said Force. “Austin Coil and Bernie (Fedderly) have got it acting like its old self. I’m really excited, not just for my team but for Castrol and Ford and all the sponsors. We had a good race car, but Beckman was very deserving.”

Another set of Mustangs were at the track this weekend as the Grand-Am Koni Challenge Series competed at Barber Motorsports Park. Barber, a track full of sharp turns, made it difficult for the Mustang drivers to maneuver and move up through the field. Jamie Slone and Billy Johnson, co-drivers of the No. 154 Mustang FR500C were the top-finishing Mustang drivers in sixth place.

Next weekend the NASCAR Nextel Cup, Busch and Craftsmen Truck competitors travel to Indianapolis while the NHRA stays on the West Coast to compete in Sonoma, California. The GT4 European Cup Mustangs get back to the track this weekend and will look for victory in Belgium .