Victory couldn’t be timelier for Ragan and Roush

The Cool Down Lap: Victory couldn’t be timelier for Ragan and Roush

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(July 3, 2011)

After a week that might drive an ordinary man to drink, team owner Jack Roush needed a tonic to wash down some of the bitter news that broke last Monday.

Crown Royal, sponsor of Matt Kenseth’s No. 17 Ford, announced abruptly its exit from Roush Fenway Racing, leaving Kenseth—at least temporarily—with a lot of inventory left on his car for 2012.

Carl Edwards, driver of Roush’s No. 99 Ford and the premier free agent in the Cup garage, still hasn’t told his owner whether he’ll return next year or accept employment elsewhere. Edwards’ sponsor Aflac is waiting for the driver’s decision before re-upping with Roush Fenway.

David Ragan’s status has been TBD all year, as speculation has run rampant that Roush would find another driver to fill the seat of a driver with so much unfulfilled promise. Also in limbo is the status of Ragan’s sponsor, UPS, which might be better served with a stronger rival to the FedEx juggernaut of Joe Gibbs Racing driver Denny Hamlin.

Then, with all the suddenness of a chain-reaction wreck on the racetrack, the landscape changed—dramatically—with Ragan’s victory in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

It couldn’t have come at a better time for Ragan or Roush.

First of all, the win makes us remember everything there is to like about David Ragan.

It makes us remember his “aw shucks,” Georgia-boy humility, his forthrightness, his manners—all worthwhile traits when selling an athlete to a sponsor.

It makes us remember the driver who narrowly missed the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup and finished 13th in points during his sophomore season in 2008. It makes us remember that Ragan has been fast all year, having secured his first career pole at Texas before notching his first win at Daytona.

It makes us remember that Ragan’s falloff in performance after 2008 mirrored the decline of the entire Roush Fenway organization during the lean times of 2009 and early 2010. Ragan’s slump may have been more pronounced, but it was an organization-wide problem that since has been remedied.

It makes us remember that Ragan is only 25, and that, Kyle Busch notwithstanding, few Cup drivers past or present have amassed substantial records by that age.

And it gives Roush some powerful talking points with Ragan’s sponsor.

“Certainly, we’re hopeful that UPS will carry on in a meaningful regard with the sponsorship of the 6 car,” Roush said after the race. “Now that we’re in negotiation, we don’t have assurances that that’s going to be the case.

“But David has arrived at the upper echelon. He’s a winner now. And he’s given a win to UPS, and hopefully they’ll consider that as they think about the value of the program and what it means to all their employees and what it means to their customers to have this association.”

Roush has re-signed driver Greg Biffle and No. 16 car sponsor 3M for next year, but he still has myriad loose ends to tie down, the most notable of which is Edwards, who has tested the market and found there are organizations willing to pay him rock-star money.

Edwards has to know, however, that announcing a move to another team next year would cost him a very real chance to win a championship this year. It’s not just difficult for a lame-duck driver to win a Sprint Cup title—it’s impossible, given the erosion of team morale that inevitably accompanies an impending departure.

Roush has leverage in that sense, but he still has plenty of work to do.

Ragan’s opportune victory doesn’t solve the organization’s problems, but it certainly helps—big-time.