Since his redeeming win at Daytona International Speedway, Roush Fenway Racing’s David Ragan has continued his charge towards a spot in the Chase. Currently 15th in the standings, Ragan holds one of the two wild card spots with eight races left before the 2011 Chase begins.
David Ragan Confident About Chase Hopes Despite Poor History At Upcoming Tracks
Ragan believes his team has the ability to race their way into the top 10 in points over the next eight races, despite his previous history at those tracks. With confidence and momentum on his side,he understands that consistent top-five and top-10 runs, no poor finishes and possibly another victory will lead to a Chase spot, “no if, ands or buts about it.”
But he was also quick to point out, “If we struggle, don’t win another race, it’s going to be a dogfight.”
If he plans on winning at any of the upcoming tracks on the schedule - Loudon, Indianapolis, Pocono, Watkins Glen, Michigan, Bristol, Atlanta and Richmond - he will have to improve upon his previous finishes. At Loudon, he has only one top-15 finish, as well as no top-10s at Indianapolis and Watkins Glen.
“Loudon is a race track that, statistic-wise, we’re horrible - it may be one of our worst tracks,” he said. “We control our own fate. We can’t go there make mistakes, I can’t knock the fenders off of it, I can’t miss a shift, blow an engine or cut a tire. We’ve just got to be on our game.”
One thing that has helped Ragan and the No. 6 team stay on their game on a consistent basis has been fast race cars week-in and week-out. However, the key is taking that fast car and putting together a solid weekend all around.
“The good thing is, our race cars are very fast,” he said. “I feel like we’re on a roll. Sometimes good momentum is very contagious. That seems to just kind of roll, just like bad momentum is contagious. Sometimes it’s hard to shake that off. I think we’ve got some good momentum going on. We’ve just got to go, not make mistakes, run good races, just be on our marks.”
Along with being consistent and mistake free, Ragan said track position and staying aggressive both on the track and pit road are essential to their Chase success. Not content with earning the wild card spot, he expects to race his way into the top 10 in points, saying, “We can’t take one break and be conservative.”
“We’re only 30 points out,” he said. “We made up almost 40 points in the last two or three weeks. We’ve got a lot of racing left. There’s no way we can sit back and say, ‘We just got to be content at getting one of those wild card spots.’ I think the top 10 is something we look at. If we hit our marks, we can certainly get there.”
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