 | | Jack Roush won't have to worry about David Ragan skipping Speedweeks to start his rookie season. Credit: Autostock |
By Dave Rodman, NASCAR.COM
January 8, 2007
03:34 PM EST (20:34 GMT)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Roush Racing's David Ragan, whom owner Jack Roush named as Mark Martin's replacement this Nextel Cup season in the No. 6 Ford, has been approved to compete in the Nextel Cup Series events of Speedweeks 2007 at Daytona International Speedway. The same conditional approval was granted to Craftsman Truck Series rookie Kelly Bires, who plans to race nearly the full 25-event schedule, splitting time with Martin in a Ford F-150 fielded by Wood Brothers/JTG Racing. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said the pair would be "observed" at Daytona's events and that they would be required to test at the 2.5-mile tri-oval. "We expect the observation is a formality only," Roush Racing president Geoff Smith said. In addition, two Nextel Cup rookies Brandon Whitt and A.J. Allmendinger will come to Speedweeks with "observation" approval. They must also participate in the final session of Cup testing Jan. 15-17. Whitt made his Nextel Cup debut last fall at Phoenix with CJM Racing and Allmendinger, who won six Champ Car World Series races last season before switching to NASCAR, was unsuccessful in two qualifying attempts last fall with Team Red Bull. Bires will hit the speedway first, when Truck Series teams test Jan. 12-14. Ragan's Cup team is scheduled to test in the Cup Series' second Jackson Hewitt Preseason Thunder session next week. He is also scheduled to compete in the full Busch Series schedule in another No. 6 Ford. Busch cars test at Daytona in a pair of three-day sessions Jan. 19-23. His crew chief, the veteran Jimmy Fennig, said he was happy his driver was cleared. "David Ragan is a young kid with a lot of talent," Fennig said of the 21-year-old. "I have been in this business for a long time and I have worked with a lot of different drivers. David definitely has a good shot at doing well in the Nextel Cup Series and I'm really looking forward to working with him this year." Ragan's late-season runs in NASCAR's three national tours prompted questions about whether or not he'd be eligible to attempt to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500, set for Feb. 18. Ragan qualified for the Nextel Cup race at Martinsville Speedway last October, but was involved in a number of on-track incidents in that event. NASCAR refused to allow Ragan, a native of Unadilla, Ga., to participate in his home track race the next weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Following that, Ragan failed to qualify for events at Texas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway in cars fielded by No Fear Racing, supported by Roush Racing. Ragan qualified 10th for the Busch Series race at Lowe's Motor Speedway, but was involved in an accident and finished 36th. That was his last Busch race of the season. He raced in four of the final five Craftsman Truck Series races last season, scoring two sixth-place finishes and finished 20th or better four times. Fennig, who returns to the Cup Series full time after heading Roush's Busch Series program for most of 2006, said he's got full confidence in his driver. "If I didn't think that he has a promising future in the sport then I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing," Fennig said. "There is going to be a pretty big learning curve to work through, but I think David has the mindset and the discipline to get the job done." Bires, on the other hand, did a lot to aid his approval by finishing fourth in his ARCA RE/MAX Series debut at Talladega Superspeedway, after qualifying eighth. He made one Truck Series start, at Atlanta, where he qualified 29th and finished 19th, one lap down to winner Mike Bliss. His primary focus last season was in the ASA Late Model series, where he won the championship and rookie of the year award with eight victories -- including the season finale at Iowa Speedway. He had 15 top-five and 17 top-10 finishes in 19 races. Bires' approval puts Wood/JTG in a much better position than a year ago, when Marcos Ambrose and Bobby East were there full time although neither was eligible to compete at Speedweeks. "I'm extremely pleased that Kelly has been approved to race at Daytona, because I know it's very difficult to start the season off with a different driver and then change plans mid-stream," said John Monsam, Bires' crew chief. "Last year, the experience of starting the season with Jon Wood and switching to Marcos was a difficult transition. "If you can run the same driver you can get off on the right foot and the season continues to improve. Case in point, Erik Darnell got off to a good start at Daytona with John Quinn and got a leg up on everybody else as we got further into the season -- and it paid off when he won the rookie of the year award. "That's our goal with Kelly Bires." Bires, 22, of Mauston, Wis., may only have one race on a major superspeedway, but it drew notice. "I got to see him race at Talladega in the Wood Brothers' ARCA car and I was very impressed with his poise and ability in that race," Monsam said. "It wasn't without incident -- early in the race the grill got damaged and he drove the whole race with an overheating car. "He had to get out of the draft to keep the car cool, but he was still in position to win the race on the last lap, so for someone of his age to put himself in the position to win and have the presence of mind to do what he needed to do was impressive. "You've got to know when it's time to go, and he did." | 
