New Hampshire a tough track as Ragan pursues first Chase berth

New Hampshire a tough track as Ragan pursues first Chase berth

By Jim Pedley

Special to Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(July 14, 2011)

Among other things, David Ragan will have payback on his mind this weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Not a vendetta-type payback against another driver who did him wrong, but a thank you-type payback for a team owner who did him right.

Ragan knows that a great finish in Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 will go a long way toward putting him in his first Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, and that that would go a long way toward justifying the faith which Roush Fenway Racing owner Jack Roush has showed in him through some really rough times.

"From Day 1," the 25-year-old Ragan said this week, "when Jack gave me an opportunity that I probably didn't deserve being a young kid, not having a full Nationwide Series or a full truck series underneath my belt and being promoted to the number 6 car in '07, he probably went out on a limb and he certainly put me with some good people over the years."

Ragan will start the race in Loudon with his Chase/payback chances looking decent at the very least. He's 15th in points, but only 35 out of 10th. But most encouraging of all is that his victory at Daytona two weeks ago puts him in a strong position to win one of the two wild-card entries for the playoffs.

A victory at New Hampshire would allow him to put a hammerlock on a spot in the Chase, which is now just eight races way.

Maybe best of all, a victory, or even a top-five finish would allow him to maintain the kind of momentum he has established the last couple of races, with consecutive top 10s. The kind of momentum which he wants and needs to get into the Chase and perhaps, convince primary sponsor UPS that extending its deal with Roush Fenway and the No. 6 Ford team would be a wise move.

"I think we're definitely on an upswing," Ragan said. "Are we a lock for the Chase? Absolutely not. We've got eight tough weeks in front of us of very competitive racing. I think there are three or four guys in front of us that are very, very hungry for a win. They're probably going to get a win in these next eight races, so we've got to be on top of our game—another win, a lot more top fives, a lot more top 10s. We're in a good spot. We kind of control our own destiny, but there's no time to let up now."

Especially not with the flat and tricky, 1.058-mile, oblong New Hampshire oval next up.

NHMS is a track which has baffled some of the best in the sport. Ragan teammates Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle, for example, have one victory there between them in 52 combined Cup starts. No Earnhardt has won there.

And Ragan, well, he's struggled mightily at New Hampshire . His best finish is 15th, and that came in his debut there in the summer of 2007. His average finish in eight starts is 27.8.

Yet Ragan seems undaunted.

"Loudon is a racetrack that statistic-wise we're horrible," Ragan said. "It may be one of our worst tracks, but we've had better runs there and it just seems like a lot of crazy things happen."

Which brings him to his plan for New Hampshire on Sunday.

"Jack tells you just to focus and don't mess up," Ragan said. "He always reminds you, 'don't mess up.'"

If Ragan can do that, he just may discover that payback can also be a beach.