DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- After his Sprint Cup debut late in 2006, Tony Stewart called him a "dart with no feathers." Then, NASCAR wouldn't let him race at Atlanta. Last year, he had the most crashes of any other Cup driver, but only four DNFs.

"Well, yeah, it was something like that, but I don't know how they define crashes," said David Ragan, the Roush Fenway Racing driver in his second season in the No. 6 Ford.

The dust has settled in 2008 and Ragan is no longer under caution. He, with the help of his team and consistency on his side, has slowly risen above the labels and criticism handed to him his rookie season.

The Georgia native even proved he could be in contention to make the Chase this year by climbing into the highly coveted 12th spot in the points after the May race at Darlington.

But getting caught up in wrecks, as was the case last week at New Hampshire, won't help Ragan's chances of finding his way back into the Chase. Right now he is 17th in the standings, 128 points out of the 12th and final Chase cutoff position.

It's not a popular option for Ragan, but he may have to capitalize on others' bad luck; drivers in and around the top 12 in points who make mistakes.

And there's no time like the present.

Martin Truex Jr.'s debacle at Daytona -- where the Dale Earnhardt Inc. team's car was impounded by NASCAR -- and the looming possibility of penalties will affect the No. 1 team's standings immensely. Truex sits 14th in the standings, 71 points from the 12th spot, but failed inspection Thursday relegating the team to a backup car, a car the team didn't get to practice because the final session was rained out (read more).

"We are aware of the situation but that stuff is just a bonus," Ragan said. "We don't count on that stuff helping us make the Chase. Other drivers' misfortunes is just icing on the cake."

Ragan's misfortune and 40th-place finish at New Hampshire, where he was collected in a wreck between teammate Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr., cost him dearly.

"Yeah, we'd only be about 30 to 50 points out had we not wrecked, we were on our way to a good finish," Ragan said. "To recover from a 40th-place finish, we are going to need to pull off a couple top-five finishes if we want to make the Chase. But we can because we are heading to some good tracks."

Good tracks such as Richmond, place of the Chase cutoff, where last time out in May, Ragan posted a career-best finish of third. Saturday's race, the Coke Zero 400, could also prove to be a good showing for the 22-year-old. Ragan's Daytona International Speedway debut came in 2007 when he wheeled the No. 6 to a fifth-place finish.

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

• More

He also has three starts in the Nationwide Series at the superspeedway with a best finish of ninth in February. His season-opener on the Cup side at Daytona ended with an early crash for which Ragan takes responsibility. It represented his only DNF of the season before last week.

Nevertheless, crew chief Jimmy Fennig said the team will produce a strong run Saturday.

"Daytona is a good track for David. He was running really well back in February, but bottomed out and lost it which ended his day early. He rebounded back with a strong run at Talladega [finished fourth] so I see no reason why he can't get another solid run this weekend in Daytona," Fennig said. "We've got a great team and are taking a proven car so it should be a good night for our AAA Ford Fusion."

When Ragan thinks back to his late-season debut in 2006 at Martinsville Speedway where Stewart abused him, or thinks of how many cars he tore up in his first full-time season in 2007, he shrugs.

The past is the past; he said he has learned from his mistakes and doesn't take the criticism personally.

"Tony speaks his mind, good or bad, he's the first to tell you screwed up but he's also the first to tell you, you did something right. Somebody is always going to bring it to your attention," he said. "I've made mistakes, yes, but I'm smarter, my team is stronger, the cars are better. In this world the second time around is always going to be easier than the first."

• Video: Riki Rachtman is Unleashed with David Ragan