David Ragan visits Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia

Following his season-best sixth-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway, David Ragan stopped in Philadelphia ahead of Sunday's race at Dover International Speedway to visit Shriners Hospital for Children, the sponsor on his No. 38 Ford this weekend. Hear more about his special experience and see photos from the event.

'It's always encouraging and fun to see those young kids, the smile on their face and how they can go about living a normal life thanks to the help of the Shriners,' Ragan said of the recent visit.

'As an adult, we go into situations like that or we go into a hospital and we're probably a little sad, but the kids don't realize that,' Ragan said. 'They're getting expert care, young kids are learning how to walk again -- they have their prosthetic legs on -- or maybe they're having some surgery with a foot correction or spinal cord injury, so they're learning how to be mobile and be a normal kid.'

Ragan visits Shriners hospitals around the country, hoping to spread awareness to the public about the good work of the hospital. He serves as their NASCAR ambassador.

“It's really encouraging to see their attitude and the faces of an obstacle that they're having in their life and they're still pretty happy and upbeat, thanks to the Shriners ...' Ragan said. 'It’s always good to meet a few families of the patients and the staff, tell them a little bit about the sport of NASCAR.'

“The very first time I visited a Shriners hospital was back in 2007 in Tampa (Florida),' Ragan said. 'I was in Daytona for the 500 and it was my rookie season, so we went between the two weekends in Daytona … I didn’t know much about the hospital, what the Shriners were all about … when I realized that there’s this network of 22 hospitals that are caring for kids all around the country regardless of their ability to pay, I thought that was a really neat thing.”

“I actually became a Shriner about six years ago,' Ragan said. 'I’m really invested in the group, I think they do a lot of neat things and it’s cool that we’re able to use our platform of our Monster Energy Cup car and different things throughout the year to help raise awareness and say thank you.”

Ragan will also play host to EJ (not pictured), a nine-year-old patient at the hospital who was diagnosed at birth with Erb’s Palsy, which causes nerve injury in the neck/shoulder area and affects the arm muscles. After treatment and surgery at the hospital, EJ is able to participate in sports with friends. A big NASCAR fan, EJ will take a lap in the pace car, attend the drivers meeting and ride with Ragan during driver introductions. 'I guarantee you he's never been to a race like we're going to treat him on Sunday,' Ragan said.

The No. 38 Shriners Hospital for Children-themed ride will take the track for Sunday's AAA Drive for Autism 400 at Dover International Speedway.