Near-Perfect Strategy Pays Off For Ragan, Roush

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Near-Perfect Strategy Pays Off For Ragan, Roush

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As best as I can figure, David Ragan and Matt Kenseth performed carburetor plate racing’s two-car tango to perfection in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

And that allowed Ragan to win the race and earn the first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory of his career.

No doubt you are well aware of the style of racing that has evolved at NASCAR’s plate tracks, Daytona and Talladega – especially at the recently repaved 2.5-mile DIS.

Two cars hook up in a draft, the front end of one glued to the rear end of the other. It’s the best possible configuration in which to produce top speeds.

Which is not saying it’s popular with competitors, however.

There’s a lot more to it than simply that, of course, but suffice it to say that drivers have learned that the only way they are going to have any chance at victory is to find someone with whom they can hook up and, even more important, cooperate.

While drivers have found drafting partners from various teams competing in various car models (you take the best help where you can get it), we’re told the ideal situation is for two teammates to hook up.

Certainly the teammates think so.

If that is the case, what we saw in the Coke Zero 400 was indeed, ideal.

Prior to the race, Ragan and Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth agreed to work together the entire race.

It paid off big time as Roush Fenway scored a one-two finish and Ragan won for the first time in 163 Sprint Cup starts.

“We made a pact with Matt that we were going to work together through thick or thin,” Ragan said. “I was a little worried about that. Sometimes falling to the back, and working back to the front, you get jammed up throughout the race.

“So I didn’t know if that was the right decision or not, but bottom line, our car was fast. That’s what wins these races. You’ve got to have luck, you’ve got to have pit stops and all that stuff goes into effect.

“But you’ve got to have a fast car and our UPS Ford was fast. The engine ran flawless and that’s what won the race for us. I had Matt right behind us. I knew we had a good pusher. I knew we had the car to do it and not try to make any mistakes, and try to put ourselves in good position.”

A couple of established circumstances made the victory especially significant for Ragan. In the Daytona 500, he was in position to win the race when, on a late-race restart, he switched lanes prior to reaching the start-finish line – which is subject to a penalty.

Ragan fell out of contention.

“Well, we got one back at Daytona and it would have been tough to lose another one here,” said the 25-year-old Ragan, who has been driving full-time for Roush since 2007. “I thought about the last race here while we were under caution.

“I thought, ‘Man, if we don’t win this thing I’m not going to want to talk to anyone afterwards.’ But we were able to win and that does ease the pain from February.”

Additionally, Ragan’s sponsor, UPS, is not signed beyond this season and word is Ragan’s status with his team is shaky, depending upon the return of his sponsor, or the acquisition of a new one.

The victory at Daytona clearly did nothing to hurt Ragan’s cause.

“Certainly we’re hopeful that UPS will carry on in a meaningful regard with the sponsorship of David’s No. 6 car,” said Roush. “Now that we are in negotiations, we don’t have assurance that that’s going to be the case. But David has arrived at the upper echelon.

“David is a winner now. And he’s given a win to UPS, and hopefully they’ll consider that as they think about the value of the program and what it means to all their employees and what it means to their customers to have this association.”

To continue on the issue of sponsorships, it was recently announced that Kenseth’s sponsor, Crown Royal, would not return to Roush or NASCAR next year.

But it’s likely that was hardly on Kenseth’s mind at all as he and Ragan intensely followed their game plan to perfection.

While every driver wants to win, Kenseth made it clear he expected to finish second. As the two sped through the final turns of the race he made certain Ragan knew he wouldn’t make any attempt to pass.

“I told him, ‘I’m not gonna leave you and try to pass you,’ Kenseth said. “I knew one of us wasn’t going to win. But we had a plan.”

Kenseth was leading with three laps to go but when the caution came out with two laps remaining, he and Ragan were alongside each other. Ragan was out front when the green flag fell for the restart.

“The plan was to work as a team all night,” said Kenseth, who has won two races this year. “It just turned out that he was in front of me at the end. Both of us were unselfish all night and we worked together really well, I thought.

“We made a plan and we stuck to it. It worked well.”

At 17th, Ragan is firmly entrenched in the top 20 in points and the Daytona victory makes him eligible, presently, for this season’s Chase through one of two “wildcard” spots reserved for race winners who aren’t among the top 10 or beyond the top 20.

“It kinda disappoints us to be 17th in points,” Ragan said. “We should be about 13th in points so we feel we’ve got some work to do. I think we should have been a player in the Chase all year.”

Carl Edwards, another Roush driver who has certainly been a big player in the Chase all season, crashed early in the race and ultimately finished 37th.

He lost the points lead to Richard Childress Racing’s Kevin Harvick, who finished seventh and is now five points ahead of Edwards. Kyle Busch is third, five points down to Edwards.

Among the drivers ranked 11th-20th in points only Denny Hamlin, 11th, and now Ragan have “insurance policy” victories.

With only nine races remaining before the Chase begins, drivers outside the top 10 who have yet to win this year include Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Juan Pablo Montoya, Mark Martin and Kasey Kahne. 

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