Ragan's comfort starting earlier on race weekends

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Who says you need experience to be successful in the draft?

Certainly not Roush Fenway Racing driver David Ragan, who had his No. 6 Ford Fusion in the top three in Aaron's 499 qualifying at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday until the go-or-go-home drivers pushed him back to sixth.

This is Ragan's third Cup Series start at the 2.66-mile track and only his fifth in any of the national series, yet he finds himself ahead of Talladega dominators like Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon.

"I'm pretty excited," Ragan said following his qualifying attempt. "We never made a qualifying run; we really concentrated on race runs in practice. So we had absolutely no expectations going into qualifying. But that's great for everyone on our team, for [crew chief] Jimmy Fennig, all the guys.

Want more? Get inside the walls of Roush Fenway Racing.

• More

"It's all about the car and all the particulars this weekend. So it feels good to know that these guys are looking out for me. Five hundred miles on Sunday is a long race, but I think we've got a good car."

Ragan has been qualifying well recently, starting fourth at Martinsville and seventh at Texas. Add a sixth at Talladega and he has three top-seven starts in the last four races, which is why Ragan wasn't shocked when he looked at the leaderboard.

"I wouldn't say [I'm] surprised," Ragan said. "Certainly, we're delighted to run a fast lap, but surprised? No. We know we can do it if all the things work out right and they did [Saturday].

"We made the right adjustments and they did the right things to the car this morning. We've got some good horsepower, I think."

In his rookie season last year, Ragan really struggled to perform at the Cup level. He finished the year 23rd in points, but only had three top-10 finishes with four DNFs and 13 finishes of 30th or worse.

In eight races this season, he's finished half of them 14th or better and has just one finish below 30th -- a 42nd in the season opener at Daytona when he was involved in crash.

He is currently 18th in points, 81 points out of the top 12, and Ragan says he and Fennig are just getting started.

"Last year, it was all about speed and I could get that speed for a little while and then it seems like the handling would go down or we would kind of lose where we were at on the racetrack and just not run as well," Ragan said. "But this year I've just seemed to find that sweet spot in our racecar and I know what I need, and communication with Jimmy Fennig has been a little better and that always helps."

Surprisingly, Ragan has done well at Talladega, a track where experience is vital in handling the draft.

He finished 17th in this race last season, and wrecked out of the fall race, finishing 34th. In one Nationwide start, Ragan started seventh and came home fourth. And in one Truck event he started on the outside of the front row, ultimately finishing seventh.

Experience is essential to a lengthy, successful career in stock-car racing, and the 22-year-old is learning how to find his groove early in the weekend, instead of toward the end.

"We seem to be able to find a handle on things a little quicker than we had last year," Ragan said. "Last year I was pretty comfortable the last 100 laps of the race but that was a little too late. We needed to get comfortable in practice and qualify good and race well -- just pick it up a little sooner, a little quicker."

Things are coming together for Ragan in relatively short time. Gone are the criticisms from other drivers and in their place is a glimpse of assuredness and a smile that is hard to wipe off.

"It's a boost of confidence," Ragan said. "We always knew we could come out and get the job done, it's just a matter of not making mistakes and getting some particulars taken care of. I think this year we haven't made as many mistakes on and off the racetrack and Jimmy and I know how to communicate a little quicker and a little easier.

"It's just the small things. Everything is a little easier the second time around."