Ragan puts emphasis on running well in Coca-Cola 600
By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer
Thursday, May 22, 2008
- TEXT SIZE: Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Reset Text Size
- No Comments. Leave a Comment
- Digg This
- Add to Del.icio.us
- RSS Feeds
Jason Smith / Getty Images for NASCAR
David Ragan
CONCORD, N.C. – For David Ragan, winning just about any race on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule would be special.
The 22-year-old driver is still seeking his first Cup triumph since joining the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing team full time in his rookie season of 2007.
Make no mistake about it, however: Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway is more than just another race to Ragan. And winning it would be monumental.
“It would mean a lot to win this race, not only being here in Charlotte, but just at Lowe’s Motor Speedway,” he said. “You look at the history of this race and you see a lot of champions and great competitors that have won this race, so it would be great for our team, it would be great for [primary sponsor] AAA and it would be awesome as a driver to win this race.”
Last season, Ragan had a top-10 run going late in the Coca-Cola 600 when he was caught up in an accident in the final 100 miles. He has since cited that night as one of the low points of his young Cup career.
Sunday will mark Ragan’s second start in the Coca-Cola 600, which is considered to be one of the Cup series’ most prestigious events. The race is also NASCAR’s longest, starting in warm daytime temperatures and ending under cooler night conditions.
Those factors can make it difficult to make a car handle well for 400 laps and 600 miles.
“This is one of the toughest tracks to get a hold of,” said Ragan, who is 12th in the series points standings. “It’s so temperature sensitive and with the new pavement a few years ago, we’ve got the new car and always a pretty difficult tire to get a handle on, so when you can come to a track like Charlotte, setups are real critical, [there's] pretty high speeds, 600 miles is the longest race and a lot of factors play in. Your pit crew and your decisions all night really mean a lot.”
Latest Headlines
Strategy – from the way the car is set up to the decisions the driver makes on the track – is at a premium for this race, Ragan noted.
“Setting up the car, you put a little bit of adjustment availability into the setup of the car for later on in the race, where normally we would know what direction we’re gonna have to go in a 400-mile race or a 300-lap race – something like that,” he said. “Here, the track is gonna change a lot.
"The track is gonna rubber up a lot and you’re probably gonna see some guys running on the top, in the middle and on the bottom throughout the 600 miles, so we’ll build some adjustability into the race car where we can make some big adjustments throughout the night. If we’re a 20th-place car the first part of the race, we might be a car that can win the last part, so you just never give up."
- Mentioned Drivers:
- David Ragan
No Comments
Be the first to comment on "Ragan puts emphasis on running well in Coca-Cola 600". Login or sign up for a free account below to post your comment