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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Rebound For Ragan?
Roush-Fenway Racing's David Ragan is hoping to repeat the success he had in 2008, not last season...
Mike Hembree  |  Posted January 27, 2010   Charlotte, NC
After nearly making the Chase in 2008, David Ragan struggled to a 27th place finish in the season standings in 2009. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
The start of the 2009 Sprint Cup season was promising for third-year driver David Ragan. He rolled home sixth in the Daytona 500.

Unfortunately for Ragan and his Roush Fenway Racing team, that was the highlight of the year. Ragan didn’t approach that level of strength the rest of the season. In fact, he had only one other top-10 result (none in the top five) and staggered into the off-season a surprisingly poor 27th in Sprint Cup points.

The results were particularly disappointing after a rosy 2008, a season in which Ragan challenged for a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, finished 13th in points and had six top fives, a measure that perhaps is most important in determining a driver’s level of success.

The promise of 2008 combined with the troubles of 2009 make 2010 an important year for Ragan, who carries the high-profile sponsorship of UPS on his No. 6 Fords.

“It’s pretty simple,” Ragan said. “We’ve got to win races. Last year it was good to finally get a couple of wins on the Nationwide Series (at Talladega and Bristol). We’re dedicated to the UPS team this year. I feel like we’ve got a lot of momentum on our side with Donnie Wingo (new crew chief) coming over and bringing a lot of his guys from the 26 car over. Our over-the-wall team is basically new to the 6 team. There was a lot of change over the off-season, and a lot of it is good.”

Wingo, a veteran of the Cup garage and a calming influence in an often-hectic environment, replaces long-time Roush Fenway crew chief Jimmy Fennig, who moved into a research and development role with the team.

Wingo and his crew-chief colleagues at Roush Fenway will be attempting to rebound from a sub-par year overall at Ford’s NASCAR focal point. The operation produced only three victories – two by Matt Kenseth and one by Jamie McMurray – in 2009.

“I think it’s the same as with any team,” Wingo said. “If you don’t produce, sponsors don’t want to come back. Everybody in the organization has to look at that. David had a real good year in ’08. I think you have to look at how the whole group had a bad ’09, and being a young driver like David is compounds that. It had kind of a trickle-down effect.

“I’m looking forward to getting started. We still have Jimmy here to help with R and D stuff, and I’ve spent a lot of time talking to him on things David likes and doesn’t like with the cars.”

Ragan, 24, made his first Cup start at Dover in 2006. He was Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2007 before making a run at the Chase in ’08. He sees this season as one that needs to be productive.

“We feel like we have a pretty good grasp on things for Daytona, but I think the real test will be when we unload in California (for the season’s second race),” Ragan said. “But it’s all pretty plain and simple. We have to win races, and we have to be competitive.”

Wingo said the team has new people both in the shop and on the pit crew. “It’s all going to help,” he said. “We’ve mixed things up a little and tried to make it better. And we’ve got to help David stay out of bad situations. He’s grown and shown a lot of maturity. I think he’s developing and learning how to stay out of trouble. One of the keys is for us to do really well in the first five to 10 races, and then we can go from there.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.


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