David Ragan
NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series: Infineon Raceway
Toyota/Save Mart 350 Sunday June 24
3:30 PM Eastern on TNT/PRN
Fast Facts
David Ragan has never competed at Infineon Raceway although he has been to the track twice to test.
David Ragan is also running second in the Raybestos Rookie of the Year race, trailing Juan Pablo Montoya by four points.
The Toyota/Save Mart 350 will be race number five in the Raybestos Rookie Magnificent Seven program. The Raybestos Rookie of the Race normally pays $1,500 but that increases to $5,000 at seven designated races throughout the 2007 season: Daytona (Feb. 18), Las Vegas (Mar. 11), Martinsville (April 1), Darlington (May 12), Infineon (June 24), Chicago (July 15), and Bristol (August 25).
Ragan has been the highest finishing Raybestos Rookie in six out of fifteen races this season, same as close competitor Juan Pablo Montoya.
Ragan’s best COT finish so far is 14th at Dover International Speedway earlier this month.
David Ragan
Team: No. 6 AAA Ford Fusion
Crew Chief: Jimmy Fennig
Chassis: RK-490 Brand new car
RK- 495 Brand new car
Ragan on racing at Infineon Raceway:
“Sonoma will be my first road course race in a Cup car. I raced the Busch car at Mexico City earlier this year and finished 14th, but other than that I have little experience racing on these types of race tracks. I have been out to Sonoma twice so far this season to test so I feel a little but more comfortable heading into the weekend than I did before I spent some time on the track. We have also been down to Road Atlanta a couple of times with our road course cars so that should be helpful too. This will also be the first Car of Tomorrow race on a road course so it may be beneficial to a rookie like me for all the veterans to be facing this challenge for the first time, just like I will be doing.”
Crew Chief Jimmy Fennig on racing at Infineon Raceway:
“We are taking two brand new cars to Sonoma. This is one of the race cars that we have been preparing for the most since the combination of a road course and the Car of Tomorrow will be a big challenge for David as a rookie. We have been doing some testing as a team at a couple of tracks around the southeast and David has made two trips out to Infineon to test so hopefully that will be sufficient enough for us to unload and get the car running good in the during the practice session in order to be competitive during the race. This weekend is another non-companion weekend with the Busch cars in Milwaukee so David has a busy and challenging weekend ahead of him and we are going to do anything we can to help him out.”
