Background and career
David Lee Ragan (born December 24, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 60 Ford Mustang Dark Horse for RFK Racing, and was also an analyst for NASCAR on Fox on NASCAR Race Hub. Ragan was born in Unadilla, Georgia, the son of former racer Ken Ragan, and began his racing career racing in the Bandolero Series at age 12. Four years later, he began competing in the Goody's Dash Series with Cam Strader. After one year, he moved to the Legends Pro-Division to race for Mark Martin. He finished the season by finishing fourth in the point standings. At age 18, Ragan began racing in the Camping World Truck Series, the Nationwide Series, and the ARCA Racing Series. In 2007, Ragan moved up to the Sprint Cup Series, replacing Mark Martin in the No. 6, and driving for Roush Fenway Racing. Between 2007 and 2011, he recorded 30 top tens in the series. On July 2, 2011, Ragan won his first career Sprint Cup Series race, the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. His second win, the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway in May 2013, was also the first win for Front Row Motorsports.
Ragan was born in Unadilla, Georgia in December 1985, the son of former racer Ken Ragan. Ragan started his racing career in the Bandolero Series at the age of twelve. During the following year, he won twelve races and the National Championship. In 1999, he won the National Championship for the second time. In 2001, Ragan began racing in the Goody's Dash Series with Cam Strader. During the season, the two built late models for Ragan to use in 2002. In 2002, he began racing in the Legends Pro-Division for Mark Martin. At the end of the season, he finished fourth in the final point standings.
At the age of eighteen, Ragan moved to the Craftsman Truck Series, as well as the Busch Series and the ARCA Re/Max Series. During his first career start in the ARCA Series, he qualified in the second position, but failed to finish the race after suffering a tire failure. His first race in the Craftsman Truck Series was at Texas Motor Speedway, where he qualified 28th and finished in the twentieth position for Fiddleback Racing. During the season, he failed to qualify for one race, and failed to finish six of the ten races he participated in. Ragan also ran one Busch Series race at Homestead, finishing 31st, after starting 36th. In the following season, he participated in Roush Racing: Driver X as the co-driver of the No. 6 Roush Racing Ford F-150 in the Truck Series. After participating in nineteen events in the series, he recorded one top-five, eight top-ten finishes, and one pole position. Also in 2005, Ragan participated in three Busch Series events, as well as 19 ARCA Racing Series events, where he won one race, and recorded three pole positions, eight top-five finishes, and eleven top-ten finishes. During the 2006 season, he participated in three Busch Series events, and two Nextel Cup Series events. He also participated in nineteen Truck Series events, where he recorded two pole positions, one top-five, and eight top-ten finishes.
For the 2007 season, Ragan moved to the Nextel Cup Series as the driver of the number 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fusion. He also participated in the NASCAR Rookie of the Year standings in both the Nextel Cup and Busch Series, where he finished second in the Nextel Cup Series, while winning the award in the Busch Series. During the Cup season, Ragan recorded two top-five finishes, one being in the 2007 Daytona 500, and three top-tens, finishing 23rd in the point standings. During the Busch Series season, he earned two pole positions, four top-fives, and nine top-tens, while finishing fifth in the final point standings. Also in 2007, he participated in one ARCA Racing Series event, where he finished in the fourth position. In 2008, Ragan raced in the Sprint Cup Series, the Nationwide Series, and in two ARCA Racing Series events. In the Cup season, he earned six top-fives and 14 top-tens, while finishing thirteenth in points. During the Nationwide season, he got seven top-fives and 21 top-ten finishes. Ragan clinched fourth in the final point standings. One year later, in 2009, he participated in only the Cup Series and the Nationwide Series. During the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season, he recorded zero top-fives and two top-tens and finished 27th in points. However, in the 2009 NASCAR Nationwide Series season, he won two races and earned five top-fives and fifteen top-tens, while finishing eighteenth in points.
During 2010, he only participated in the Sprint Cup Series. He recorded zero top-fives, only three top-ten finishes, and finished 24th in points once the season concluded. In 2011, he began the year almost winning the Daytona 500, but he got penalized for moving lanes before he crossed the line on the restart with two laps to go. On May 21, 2011, he won the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte Motor Speedway, passing Brad Keselowski with two laps to go. Ragan won the Coke Zero 400 on July 2, 2011, for his first career Sprint Cup win after getting a late push from teammate Matt Kenseth. He was eligible to compete in the "wild card" to get himself into the Chase for the Sprint Cup. After bad finishes a few weeks before the final race before the Chase at Richmond, he finished fourth but was 54 points away from thirteenth to put himself into a Chase position. At the end of the 2011 season UPS, Ragan's primary sponsor on the Roush Fenway Racing No. 6 Ford, announced that they would no longer sponsor the No. 6 and that the company would scale back its racing program next season, leaving the number 6 team without sponsorship and ultimately forced the camp to shut down, making Roush Fenway Racing a 3-car team for the 2012 season.
In January 2012, Ragan signed with Front Row Motorsports to drive the No. 34 Ford for the team in 2012. He drove for GC Motorsports International in the season-opening Nationwide Series event at Daytona. Ragan got off to a bad start with FRM, crashing out on lap two of the Daytona 500 and finishing last. He would eventually go on to finish 28th in Cup Series points. Ragan started the 2013 season with a rotating roster of sponsors. He started the season wrecked at the Daytona 500 (along with his two other teammates, David Gilliland and Josh Wise) and had no finish better than twentieth in the first nine races. However, during the Aaron's 499, Ragan started the green–white–checker restart in 10th-place. On the last lap, teammate Gilliland was able to help push him past Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, and Carl Edwards to win the race. This was his first win with Front Row Motorsports and the team's first Sprint Cup win, as well as the first NASCAR win for his sponsor for that race, Farm Rich. The 34 team improved more in 2013, earning sixteen top-25 finishes, including the win, a twelfth-place finish at the Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, and a sixth-place finish at the fall Talladega race. However, three consecutive engine failures during the Chase dropped Ragan to 28th in points. For 2014, Ragan returned to Front Row Motorsports No. 34 to run the full season with sponsorship from Farm Rich and CSX. In the Nationwide Series, Ragan joined Biagi-DenBeste Racing in the No. 98 Ford for several races throughout the season. Ragan got his first top-ten finish on a non-restrictor plate track with Front Row Motorsports in the 2014 Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway by gambling on track position with five laps to go in the race. It was his first top-ten of the season and came with a paint scheme paying tribute to the late Wendell Scott, who had also driven the number 34. Ragan finished 32nd in points.
