David Ragan in the AAA Travel Ford was the top Raybestos Rookie in the final practice session today at Talladega. Ragan posted the fourth-best overall speed and was the only Raybestos Rookie in the top-10.

The rest of the class: Juan Pablo Montoya (19th), David Reutimann (37th), Paul Menard (42nd) and AJ Allmendinger (47th).

DAVID RAGAN, No. 6 AAA TRAVEL FORD: HOW LEGIMATE IS THAT SPEED? “It’s very legitimate. Our AAA Ford Fusion is very fast. It runs fast as long as I’ve got somebody helping me from behind but sometimes they tend to leave me out hanging a little bit. But I think as the race goes on they’ll learn our Ford is pretty fast. I don’t know where it’ll qualify. It may qualify fifth, it may qualify 10th. But if it’s anywhere up there in the top-10 or 15 we’ll be happy and we’ll race ‘em on Sunday.”

THIS WAS THE PRIMARY CAR FOR THE DAYTONA 500. “It’s a good race car. All the racecars at Roush are good but you’ve got to massage on ‘em just a little to get ‘em better. We feel like we’ve done some massaging on this car and it’s a good car. It might surprise everybody tomorrow.”

IT LOOKED LIKE DRAFTING PRACTICE WAS INTENSE. “These Cup guys, the get out and on their first lap they’re wide open and they’re going. That’s cool. It took me a lap or two to get in the rhythm and my spotter and I are certainly going to get better through the Busch race tomorrow. I feel like our AAA Ford is pretty sporty. It’s just a matter of having a little bit of luck on our side and who knows? We might come out of here a winner.”