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| David Ragan and his team prepare for Coca Cola 600 qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 24, 2012. |
In 2006, a young driver made his first Sprint Cup Series start at Dover International Speedway for Roush Fenway Racing and just 46 laps in, he was done for the day after being involved in a crash. A few weeks later, he traveled to Martinsville Speedway with a plan of just turning laps and finishing the race to gain experience. But that would be easier said than done. He caused a lot of crashes that race and angered many drivers, including Ken Schrader. Despite it all, he managed to finish 25th that day at Martinsville. He even finished on the lead lap after getting the free pass not once, but three times throughout the race.
His next Cup Series race in 2006 was supposed to be the following weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but NASCAR saw to it that he would not run that race after causing so much trouble at Martinsville.
But that never deterred David Ragan from trying to earn his place among NASCAR’s elite in the Sprint Cup Series. Nor did it stop me from becoming a fan of him.
It was actually the race at Martinsville Speedway that caused me to become a fan of Ragan. Even after all the trouble he had somehow found himself in, he owned up to his mistakes and wanted to learn from them. That perseverance in the face of so much scrutiny is what drew me in. You just don't see that in many young drivers when they first start.
Ragan still traveled to Atlanta Motor Speedway the following weekend because he was scheduled to run the Truck Series race. His disastrous Martinsville weekend still loomed over him though. Tony Stewart had called Ragan a “dart without feathers” after that race, and the media wouldn't let it go. Did Ragan take offense to it? Maybe. But he did something in response to it that truly speaks for the kind of person he is.
