The Georgia native, David Ragan has yet to win a Cup race, but he’s 13th in the point standings. And it’s the top 12 drivers after 26 races that get to compete for the Chase for the Cup championship during the final 10 races of the year.
Even so, Ragan turned in another strong performance at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. After qualifying fifth, he ran in the top 10 for much of the long race before finishing 12th. He also led a lap to gain five bonus points.
Yet Ragan said he was gradually earning the respect of Busch, Stewart and his other rivals.
“I do get a little more respect out there,” he said. “I’ve certainly got a long ways to go, but we’re on the right track.”
“Anything your second time around is a lot easier,” he said of this season. “We’ve been qualifying a lot better, so we’ve had better track position, better pit-stall selection, so everything has seemed to happen a little easier and a little smoother.”
He secured the truck ride in 2005 by winning an audition with Roush Fenway, then was tapped to step into the No. 6 Ford Sprint Cup car that had been driven for years by the popular Mark Martin.
“Going into the 6 car, I never really took the attitude of, ‘Hey, here I am trying to replace Mark Martin,” Ragan said. “I’ve just tried to do the best job that I can and keep the sponsors happy and try to keep the fans excited about the No. 6 car.”
“I’ve certainly got a long ways to go, but we’re on the right track,” Ragan said. “We’ve just got to keep doing the right things and eventually we’ll be where we need to be.”
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