Rookie Ragan winds up tops among Roush five

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Roush Fenway Racing almost had a stunning team debut Sunday in the 49th Daytona 500 -- but when what many will consider the wildest finish in the history of the "Great American Race" occurred, all they had was a shocked rookie, David Ragan, in fifth.

"To get down to the truth, I probably don't deserve it [because] certainly Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth -- they're the smart racecar drivers on our team and they were running up front the whole day," Ragan said. "It was a long day for us and we came out on the top side of things, but certainly, week-in and week-out, Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth are gonna show you why they're the champions."

The stats backed Ragan's contention. He started 35th and never hit the top 20 until 10 laps remained, when he was 16th. But the final results proved that, when all heck broke loose -- as it did twice in the last 16 laps -- the kid with the least experience among the five Roush Fenway drivers held the steadiest wheel.

"I was just trying to stay in line and stay out of the way and try to finish this thing, but certainly it was wild," Ragan said of the finish. "The first part was pretty easy and a little too calm, I guess. We had a chance to work on our cars and everybody had good-handling cars there at the end and was giving it all they had."

It certainly didn't look like Ragan would be the team leader with less than 10 of the original 200 laps remaining, when Biffle and Kenseth were stacked up behind leader Mark Martin, who last season was a teammate to all five drivers and whom Ragan replaced in Roush's famous No. 6 Ford.

When the race's final caution at Lap 197 rearranged the order and set up a green-white-checkered finish, Kenseth still had a chance for a top-three going into Turn 3 on the last lap, and Biffle was potentially looking at a top-five.

But when the checkers, dust, sparks and smoke had fallen Ragan's was the only RFR car unscathed. Carl Edwards, who precipitated the race's penultimate caution when he slapped the wall coming off Turn 4 on Lap 186, was 23rd; Biffle 25th; Kenseth 27th; and Jamie McMurray, who was eighth in the same line as his teammates at Lap 190 but was wrecked by Kenseth in the penultimate caution and finished 31st.

"On the last lap, I saw Kyle Busch run off the apron coming off of [Turn] 4," Ragan said. "I just kind of stood my ground and stayed straight and kept my eye on the start/finish line and that's where I was trying to get to."

His crew chief, Jimmy Fennig, who won the 1988 Daytona 500 with the veteran Bobby Allison, said he was impressed with his young driver, too.

"David has got a lot of talent -- a lot of talent," Fennig said. "We've just got to keep working him into all these places and he'll be fine." (Continued)