CUP: Atlanta Homecoming For Ragan

Sprint Cup

CUP: Atlanta Homecoming For Ragan

David Ragan had a breakout sophomore season in 2008, narrowly missing the Chase for the Sprint Cup and earning praise from a number of his peers...

Tom Jensen | Posted March 05, 2009 Harrisburg, NC

David Ragan has struggled in 2010. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

No one knows about pressure more than third-year Roush Fenway Racing driver David Ragan, of whom much is expected this season. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Pressure is something every NASCAR Sprint Cup racer lives with on a regular basis. No one knows that more than third-year Roush Fenway Racing driver David Ragan, of whom much is expected this season.

Just 23 years old, the Unadilla, Ga., native had a breakout sophomore season in 2008, narrowly missing the Chase for the Sprint Cup and earning praise from a number of his peers, most notably Tony Stewart, who called Ragan his driver of the year because of his massive improvement over his rookie season.

This year, Ragan has a new sponsor in longtime NASCAR supporter UPS and he knows it’s time to win his first Cup race and make the Chase for the first time. He got the 2009 season off to a good start, finishing sixth in the Daytona 500 before fading to 17th at Auto Club Speedway a week later. Last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Ragan was one of three Roush-Fenway Ford Fusion drivers who saw their engines self-destruct. In Ragan’s case, that meant a disappointing 42nd-place finish that dropped him from eighth in points all the way to 24th.

Obviously, he’ll be hoping for better results this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his home speedway and site of Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500. Ragan finished eighth here last October, and given the penchant for Roush Fenway cars to perform well at the intermediate-distance tracks, he should be up to speed on Sunday.

And it would not be an exaggeration to say that a victory on Sunday would be a dream come true for Ragan. “I think every racer loves to dream about Daytona and Indy and places like that, but Atlanta is a track that I could relate to as a young kid,” said Ragan. “I never got a chance to go to a Daytona 500 as a kid or even to the Indy 500 or the Brickyard, so Atlanta was the closest thing to NASCAR that I had growing up, and going and seeing all the grandstands and all the race cars and trying to take pictures through the garage fence – stuff like that is what I can remember as a kid. It’s always a lot of fun to go back and see what’s changed over the years and certainly the things that are familiar to you.”

In recent years, AMS has taken some criticism for the size of its crowds, but Ragan insisted the 1.54-mile speedway still puts on some of the best shows anywhere. “I think everyone loves Atlanta Motor Speedway and I think if you look at the racing overall the last 10 years it’s got to be one of the best race tracks on an average year after year,” he said. “I know there are some tracks that may have a closer finish here or there, but on an average the racing in Atlanta does not get any better.”

And Ragan said he expects another great race on Sunday. “We always hear that talk about ticket sales and the amount of people coming, but every race I remember, when they drop the green flag, there’s a lot of people there. I think everyone back home in Georgia, they’re busy working and they can’t go out and buy their tickets and do everything until the day of the race, so I think all the talk will quiet down a little bit when they open the gates on Sunday and all the working men and women back home have a chance to breathe and they get out of Sunday school and they can go watch a race.”

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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