BROOKLYN, Mich. -- After David Ragan wrecked out of the Nationwide Series race on Saturday at Michigan International Speedway, he arrived at the track Sunday morning to find car owner Jack Roush waiting on him.

“

They're going to run well, so we need to run well, too, and hope we don't have any DNF's the next three weeks. I think we'll be fine.

”

DAVID RAGAN

Race to Chase

Pos. 10 through 14

Pos.	Driver	+/- 12th
10.	Matt Kenseth	+48
11.	Kasey Kahne	+21
12.	Denny Hamlin	--
13.	Clint Bowyer	-26
14.	David Ragan	-26

Roush had some blunt words of advice for his young driver.

"OK, David, you can wreck once in a while, but you've had your wreck for a while now. Let's focus on making sure we stay on the black stuff [Sunday]," Roush told Ragan prior to the running of the 3M Performance 400.

Ragan went out and did much more than merely keep his No. 6 Ford on the black asphalt of the 2-mile oval. On the final restart with two laps to go, Ragan actually held the lead -- even though it was a bit of a mirage. He had stayed out on the previous caution while most of the other contenders pitted and took on fresh right-side tires.

Although he quickly was passed by eventual race winner and Roush Fenway Racing teammate Carl Edwards and also eventual second-place finisher Kyle Busch, Ragan held on to finish third. That matched the highest finish of his brief Cup career (watch video).

"We were good on the long runs," said Ragan, who also finished third at Richmond in September 2007 in what was his rookie season. "The race worked out in our favor. Our car had good forward bite and turned good all day. The 99 [of Edwards] and the 18 [of Busch] were the class of the field, but we made an adjustment like every stop and kept getting a little better. If it had been a 500-mile race, we might have had something for them."

Ragan was running fourth when the final caution flag of the day came out. Crew chief Jimmy Fennig wanted him to pit along with the rest of the leaders, but Ragan hesitated -- and in this case, all was not lost for those who hesitate.

"If you get right down to it, there probably was a little miscommunication," Ragan said. "I think Jimmy probably wanted to take two tires and make a small adjustment. I felt like everybody was going to stay out. They ducked down pit road at the last minute. I was a few seconds late making my decision, and we just decided to stay out. I saw the 88 [of Dale Earnhardt Jr.] was staying out, so that made my decision feel just a little bit better -- knowing somebody else was staying out with me.

"I guess it worked out. We were running fourth when everybody else pitted, and we ended up finishing third."

Roush said this has been an incredible year of improvement for Ragan, who came into the race 14th in points and moved into a tie for 13th with Clint Bowyer, only 26 points out of 12th. The top-12 drivers in points after the first 26 regular-season races qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup during the final 10 events of the season.

"He's matured more than I could have imagined this year for his age," Roush said. "He's 22 years old, and it's amazing. When Carl [Edwards] came onto the scene, I think he already was 26. Mark Martin was 28 and Jeff Burton was 28 and Greg Biffle was 28. David Ragan is way ahead of everybody that's currently driving with us in terms of what he's doing at his age, because the other guys weren't involved with us at that time.

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"We're learning from David, and when we get it figured out, we'll be able to do for him what he needs to have done, the same as we've tried to do for everybody else at Roush Fenway Racing."

With only three races remaining before the Chase cutoff after Sunday, Ragan said he was giving himself a little pep talk after staying out on the old tires for the final laps at Michigan.

He said he told himself, "Don't mess up. You've got to get a good points day. It's always fun to try to win the thing, but you don't want to put yourself in a bad position and take yourself out of a top-five finish and finish 15th with it. Just do all you can do."

The strategy worked. Now he heads to next week's race at Bristol Motor Speedway with momentum -- and armed with the knowledge that after Bristol he will race at the Auto Club Speedway in California that traditionally has been a strong track for Roush Fenway, much the same as has Michigan.

"We just have to focus on getting good finishes, and then the points take care of themselves," Ragan said. "We're racing with pretty good company -- with [Matt] Kenseth and [Clint] Bowyer and [Kevin] Harvick and those guys right in front of us. They're going to run well, so we need to run well, too, and hope we don't have any DNF's the next three weeks. I think we'll be fine."

Roush added: "The fate of David as it relates to the Chase will be based on whether he's involved in a wreck at a bad time or whether we break a part, which ends up being my fault, and whether the other people that are in the back four positions in the top 12 have better luck than he does in terms of the way that things develop for them on the racetrack.

"But David is doing everything that he can."

Ragan admitted that he is confident but apprehensive about heading to Bristol, where he finished 21st earlier this season.

"At Bristol, sometimes things are out of your control," Ragan said. "We've had some good speed at Bristol, but we've never had a great finish. Qualifying is going to be important; we're going to need to have good track position, and basically try to ride around until Lap 400. We've tried to have that perspective at a lot of tracks we've been to this year, and it's paid off for us. So again, we just have to keep on going and keep on learning. It doesn't get any easier from here."

Then Ragan smiled, and relished in what he accomplished Sunday at Michigan after admittedly losing control of his car in the Nationwide accident (watch video).

"It was a good, solid weekend," Ragan said. "It's good to be a Ford Racing driver right now.

Also
• Edwards leads strong Roush contingent at Michigan
• Gordon, Kahne take fall in points after MIS trouble
• Menzer: Visit back 'home' more meaningful for Roush