David Ragan Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Ford has struck the first blow of Speedweeks. Despite rolling into Daytona with the unknown of its new Mustang Dark Horse body for 2024, the Blue Oval brigade will have the best seat in the house to start Sunday’s 66th running of the Daytona 500 after Joey Logano and Michael McDowell locked out the front row in pole qualifying on Wednesday night. Logano, the 2015 Daytona 500 champion and two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, powered his No. 22 Team Penske Ford around the 2.5-mile superspeedway inRead More

North Wilkesboro and Chicago are big events that may need some help.Read More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With a huge assist from Richard Childress Racing teammate Tyler Reddick after a rain delay of more than three hours, Austin Dillon forced his way into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff and broke Martin Truex Jr.’s heart. Dillon’s victory in Sunday’s rain-delayed Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway—his first of the season and his second at the track—needed the convergence of several different circumstances to fall into place.  After avoiding serious damage in a wreck off Turn 4Read More

By Holly Cain and Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service 2021 Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell fastest in today’s practices DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Defending Daytona 500 winner Michael McDowell turned the fastest lap of Tuesday’s combined two opening Daytona 500 practice sessions at Daytona International Speedway with a top lap of 192.736 mph in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford. David Ragan, a former summer Daytona race winner, was second fastest in the No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford with a quick lap of 192.666 mph around the 2.5-mileRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Alex Bowman swapped car numbers for the 2021 season – from 88 to 48 – but has certainly retained his Daytona magic, earning the pole position for Sunday’s Daytona 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), giving the Hendrick Motorsports driver a record fourth consecutive front row start in the NASCAR Cup Series season-opener. Bowman, 27, went out late in the qualifying order (38th of 44 drivers) Wednesday night – the first night-time pole qualifying session in race history –Read More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Front Row Motorsports announced its official 2021 NASCAR Cup Series plans Wednesday morning as Anthony Alfredo will become a full-time driver and David Ragan making his return to the Daytona 500 being the highlights. Alfredo, who spent the past season running part-time for Richard Childress in the Xfinity Series, will replace John Hunter Nemechek in the No. 38 Ford Mustang. Ragan, who finished fourth in last year’s weather and crash-marred “Great American Race,” will run the No. 36 Ford once again. Car owner Bob JenkinsRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Grant Enfinger bookended the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series regular season with victories, answering his season-opening win at Daytona with a win Thursday night in the ToyotaCare 250 regular season finale at Richmond (Va.) Raceway – leading his ThorSport Racing teammates Matt Crafton and Ben Rhodes across the finish line by a 1.033-seconds. Brett Moffitt and rookie Tyler Ankrum rounded out the top five. Codie Rohrbaugh, former NASCAR Cup Series regular David Ragan, Austin Hill, Timmy Hill and Stewart Friesen rounded outRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Kentucky is known for horsepower of a four-legged kind with the state hosting the prestigious Kentucky Derby each year, but back in 2011, the state gained a new kind of horsepower when the NASCAR Cup Series rolled into Kentucky Speedway for the inaugural running of the Quaker State 400. After years of lobbying for a Cup Series date to go along with the Xfinity Series and Truck Series races the track had been hosting since opening its gates in 2000, the Speedway Motorsports Inc. owned trackRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – With the car of Ryan Newman sliding upside-down trailing sparks behind him, Denny Hamlin joined elite company on Monday night in the second-closest finish in Daytona 500 history. Hamlin beat Ryan Blaney to the finish line at Daytona International Speedway by .014 seconds, and while the driver of the No. 11 celebrated with a burnout on the infield grass, the emergency crew worked to extricate Newman from his No. 6 Ford, which came to rest on its roof at theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – On paper, John Hunter Nemechek is listed as a Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender in the NASCAR Cup Series. But in the eyes of his Front Row Motorsports teammates Michael McDowell and David Ragan, John Hunter has the advantage over the other rookies. This is due in most part of John Hunter spending years years in the garage with his father Joe Nemechek, which his teammates view as an absolute benefactor to his racing experience. McDowell said last Sunday at theRead More