David Ragan, driver of the No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion, posted a career-best fifth-place finish in last week’s season-opening Daytona 500. It was just the third Nextel Cup start of his career.

DAVID RAGAN – No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion – IN TERMS OF HOW YOU’RE VIEWED BY OTHERS IN THE GARAGE, WHAT KINDS OF STRIDES DO YOU FEEL YOU’VE MADE WITH LAST WEEK’S RESULT? “Hopefully some good strides. Certainly anything in this sport you’ve got to go out and prove to your competitors, to the media, to everyone, and certainly I haven’t won Busch races and dominated the truck races and all – I’ve had a little bit of success here and there, or I wouldn’t be here today – but I don’t have the path that, say, Martin Truex or some of the other guys who have won Busch championships or truck championships and come into the top level. So, certainly there’s a lot of people out there that, not necessarily doubt my abilities, but just don’t believe I’m quite ready, so that adds a little bit of fuel to the fire on my perspective to go out and try harder and try to focus and be the best I can be. But, at the same time, every week is going to be a learning experience and an experience to the other drivers, so how I conduct myself on and off the race track is going to kind of set the tone for the rest of the year.”

IN THE LAST WEEK, HAVE PEOPLE REACTED TO YOU DIFFERENTLY OR DO YOU VIEW YOURSELF A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY? “More people call me. My cell phone rungs off the hook now more than it did, say, a month ago. But I’m the normal Georgia boy that just loves to race. I make some mistakes at times and then I’ve got to chew myself out every night for the mistakes that I do make, and then hoping that I don’t repeat them again. But, I feel like I’m the same old guy that was trying to run an ARCA car a couple years ago. I feel like I’ve got a little more experience, I understand what’s going on a little more, but still a long ways to go.”

HAVE YOU PICKED UP A NEWSPAPER AND LOOKED AT THE STANDINGS? DOES SEEING YOUR NAME IN FIFTH PLACE MAKE IT SEEM MORE REAL? “I was flipping through the USA Today and saw a four-wide picture of us at Daytona. It was Ricky Rudd, Junior and Harvick, and I said this is one of those questions that someone might ask in kindergarten: ‘Here’s four names. Which one doesn’t belong?’ I said, ‘I’m glad someone took a picture of that.’ That’s pretty cool. Certainly every race this year is going to have a lot of newness for myself, being a rookie, not necessarily to the auto-racing sport, but just to the top level. Every week I’m going to experience something new and I’m going to try to make some good notes and try to have a lot of fun this year.”