David Ragan survived a wild night in Thunder Valley to claim the Food City 250 and his first NASCAR series win at Bristol Motor Speedway Friday night.

Carl Edwards finished second, with Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth rounding out the top five.

Through the early stages of the race, first place was not the place to be, as both Justin Allgaier and Kyle Busch were taken out of contention while running in the top spot.

Contact between Allgaier and Keselowski sent the No. 12 machine of Allgaier spinning into the outside wall. Harvick and Busch then went to the front and battled for the lead.

Busch worked his way by Harvick, only to be collected by the lapped car of Chase Austin. Austin, suffering from a flat tire, crossed the track in front of Busch. The impact sent both cars into the frontstretch wall. 

As the race progressed, the Roush Fenway Fords of Ragan and Carl Edwards found themselves near the front. With Edwards in the lead, Ragan made his move as the two prepared to lap Eric McClure. Ragan moved to the inside and pinned Edwards behind McClure.

Ragan said the maneuverability of his car was the key to finding himself in victory lane.

"We're usually just mediocre here," said the winner after earning his second career Nationwide victory. "This was such a fun night to drive such a fast race car.  Racing with Carl was a lot of fun.

The new double-file restart created a great deal of drama near the end of the event, with Ragan forced to survive several late-race cautions. Those cautions extended the conclusion of the race via a green-white-checkered shootout.

For several laps, drivers received notification that the race would return to green only to have the restart postponed another lap. He compared the experience to a common practice in football, "icing the kicker."

"I felt like a field-goal kicker," he said. "One to go, call it off. One to go, call it off."

When the race did resume, Ragan was able to take the lead and hold it until Allgaier spun for a second time, bringing out a caution and freezing the field.

Those extra cautions, and his trip to victory lane, did cause one problem for Ragan.

"It kept me up past my bed time for about an hour," he said with a laugh after receiving the winner's trophy.

"The whole night was crazy," he explained. "The deal with the 18 and the lap car was raw excitement. We made up some points. The double-file restarts were tough, but I thought it worked out well. It will be intense tomorrow."

For Ragan, however, the double-file restarts were not a problem.

"The outside lane was good on restarts," he explained, "so it didn't take long for me to know I was going to take the outside...It was fun to have a fast car and go through the traffic."

Keselowski finished third, with Harvick and Kenseth completing the top-five.

The stars of the Sprint Cup Series hit the Bristol high-banks on Saturday for the sold-out Sharpie 500. The race begins at 7:30 and will be televised by ESPN.