A Cup career that brought a 2011 Coke Zero 400 win, Front Row Motorsports' first Cup victory in 2013 and a fourth-place Daytona 500 finish in 2020.
Ragan is a former NASCAR driver who raced in the Cup Series from 2007 to 2019, winning in 2011 and 2013. He returned part-time later and has been a contributor to NASCAR on Fox's Race Hub.
David Ragan is a former NASCAR driver from Unadilla, Georgia, who raced in the Cup Series from 2007 until stepping back from full-time competition in 2019. He won two Cup races, one of them the first in Front Row Motorsports history, and later returned to the sport as a part-time driver and broadcaster.
How did Ragan start racing?
Ragan began his career in the Bandolero Series at twelve and won twelve races and a national championship in his first season. Four years later he moved to the Goody's Dash Series with Cam Strader, and then to the Legends Pro-Division, where he raced for Mark Martin and finished fourth in the points.
He is the son of former racer Ken Ragan. Those early years gave him experience across several car types and tracks before he reached the national series. At eighteen he began competing in the Truck, Nationwide and ARCA series, a rapid step up that led to a Cup ride within a few years.
In 2005 his ARCA programme brought one win and three poles, while his Truck Series results included one top-five, eight top-tens and one pole.
Two Cup wins, a fourth-place Daytona 500 and a long road through the national series ladder define David Ragan's career.
What did his first Cup seasons look like?
In 2007 Ragan took over the No. 6 Roush Fenway Ford from Mark Martin. He recorded two top-fives, one of them at the Daytona 500, and finished 23rd in the points standings.
His Busch Series season that year was stronger. He earned two poles, four top-fives and nine top-tens, won the Rookie of the Year award and finished fifth in the points.
In 2008 he took six top-fives and 14 top-tens in the Cup Series, ending the year 13th. In the Nationwide Series he added seven top-fives and 21 top-tens, finishing fourth in the points.
The next two seasons were leaner. In 2009 he recorded two top-tens and finished 27th, though he won two Nationwide races and ended that series 18th. In 2010 he managed only three top-tens and finished 24th in the Cup standings.
How did his Cup Series seasons compare?
The table below gives the points finish and a highlight for the Cup seasons from his Roush Fenway years through his Front Row and BK Racing seasons. Each row shows the team, the year-end points position and the result that stood out most.
| Season | Team | Points | Highlight |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing | 23rd | Two top-fives, one at the Daytona 500 |
| 2008 | No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing | 13th | Six top-fives and 14 top-tens |
| 2009 | Roush Fenway Racing | 27th | Two top-tens |
| 2010 | Roush Fenway Racing | 24th | Three top-tens |
| 2012 | Front Row No. 34 Ford | 28th | Crashed on lap two of the Daytona 500 |
| 2013 | Front Row No. 34 Ford | 28th | First Front Row win, at Talladega |
| 2014 | Front Row No. 34 Ford | 32nd | Top-ten at Martinsville, his first on a non-restrictor plate track with the team |
| 2016 | BK Racing No. 23 | 33rd | Career-worst points; no top-ten finish |
| 2017 | Front Row No. 38 | 30th | Tenth at the GEICO 500 |
| 2018 | Front Row No. 38 | 25th | His best finish since 2011 |
Read down the column and the pattern is clear. Points finishes sat between 13th and 33rd across these seasons, with his strongest results in 2007 and 2008 and his weakest in 2016. The 25th-place finish in 2018 was his best since 2011.
How did his first Cup win come about?
Ragan's first Cup win came on July 2, 2011, in the Coke Zero 400 on the Daytona oval, after a late push from teammate Matt Kenseth, on the Daytona oval. It followed a busy spring in which he had also won the Sprint Showdown at Charlotte on May 21.
The earlier part of 2011 had not been smooth. At the Daytona 500 he was penalised for moving lanes near the finish, and he had come close to winning the race before that call.
Across 2007 to 2011 he collected 30 top-tens in Cup, a steady run that kept him in contention for the Chase. He was eligible for the wild-card route into the playoffs, but after a poor run of finishes in the weeks before Richmond he finished 54 points short of 13th place.
The season also brought bad news. UPS, his primary sponsor on the No. 6 Ford, ended its backing and scaled back its racing programme, which led to the No. 6 team shutting down and left Roush Fenway with three cars for 2012.
What was his time at Front Row Motorsports like?
Ragan signed with Front Row Motorsports in January 2012 to drive the No. 34 Ford. The start was rough. An early wreck at the Daytona 500 dropped him to the back, and the season ended 28th in Cup points.
The 2013 Aaron's 499 at Talladega changed that. Teammate David Gilliland helped push him past three rivals on the final lap, and the win was the first for Front Row Motorsports and the team's first Cup win.
That year he recorded sixteen top-25 finishes, a 12th at the Bristol Night Race and a sixth at the fall Talladega race. Three consecutive engine failures in the Chase, though, dropped him to 28th in points.
In 2014 he ran the full season in the No. 34 with Farm Rich and CSX sponsorship. The car wore a paint scheme honouring Wendell Scott, who had also driven the No. 34, and Ragan finished 32nd in points.
What happened after his Front Row years?
Ragan's owner points went to Cole Whitt in 2015, but he raced his way into the Daytona 500 and finished seventeenth. Joe Gibbs Racing then placed him in its No. 18 during Kyle Busch's absence with leg injuries, and his best result in that stint was a fifth at Martinsville.
Later that season he took over Michael Waltrip Racing's No. 55 for the rest of the year. Michael Waltrip Racing closed after the Homestead race, leaving him without a ride.
His 2015 stints were not all good. At Bristol he was caught in a crash and finished 41st, 76 laps down, and at Talladega he suffered heavy damage in the Big One, finishing 38th.
Did Ragan find a ride in 2016?
He signed to drive the No. 23 Dr Pepper Toyota for BK Racing in January 2016. The team lacked engine speed to be competitive each week, and his best result was a sixteenth at the Coke Zero 400.
That season was the low point of his Cup career, and it showed how quickly a driver's results can slip when a team lacks the speed to run up front. By then he had also driven for Roush Fenway, Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing. He finished 33rd in the points, a career-worst, and went a full year without a top-ten finish. Chris Buescher's late run at Pocono took him past Ragan in the battle for Chase eligibility, which kept Ragan's struggles in the spotlight.
How did Ragan return to Front Row in 2017 and 2018?
Ragan returned to Front Row Motorsports in the No. 38 for 2017. His first race back was the Daytona 500, where a wreck while in the top five left him 25th.
Things improved quickly. At the GEICO 500 at Talladega he finished tenth after late four-wide passes, and at Daytona in July he led with two laps to go before being passed, still finishing sixth. The 2017 season ended with a 30th-place finish in the points.
In 2018 he reached 22nd at Sonoma Raceway, his highest finish so far, and finished the season 25th overall, his best points result since 2011. The Talladega sixth in 2018 broke a top-ten drought, and he worked alongside Michael McDowell at the team.
Why did he retire from full-time racing?
On August 14, 2019 Ragan said he was stepping back from full-time racing to spend more time with his family. The 2019 season had shown flashes of speed, including a sixth-place qualifying effort at Las Vegas, and a strong Daytona 500 run that ended in a late accident.
At Kansas that year he qualified second, his strongest qualifying effort on a track without restrictor plates, with Daniel Hemric on pole.
How did his part-time comeback go?
In January 2020 Ragan announced a Daytona 500 entry with Rick Ware Racing. He qualified 30th and finished fourth, his best Daytona 500 result and his first top-five since 2015.
After retiring he worked as a test driver for Ford Performance, including simulator testing. He made his first Truck Series start since 2006 in September 2020 at Darlington, where he finished 22nd.
For the 2021 Daytona 500 he was back at Front Row, driving the No. 36, but without a charter he had to race his way into the field through his Duel qualifying race.
He was eighth in the 2022 Daytona 500 with Rick Ware Racing, his fourth career top-ten finish in that race. He then drove for RFK Racing's No. 60 Ford Mustang at the 2024 Daytona 500, finishing twentieth after leading two laps.
In July 2024 NASCAR named him its test driver for the ABB NASCAR EV prototype, the sport's electric car, at Chicago's street course.
How has Ragan contributed to NASCAR's coverage?
He has appeared regularly as a rotating contributor on the Race Hub show on Fox, both while he was driving for Front Row and after he retired from full-time racing. The broadcast role kept him close to the sport in the years between his full-time retirement and his part-time returns. He has stayed with the show rather than moving into radio or other television work.
What is Ragan's legacy?
Ragan is remembered for two Cup wins, the 2011 Coke Zero 400 and the 2013 Aaron's 499, and for helping Front Row Motorsports win its first Cup race. His 2020 Daytona 500 fourth place stands as his best result in that event. For Front Row the 2013 Talladega victory was a milestone, and his 2017 return to the team showed that the relationship had lasted beyond his first stint there.
His career also reflects the steady route many drivers took through the national ladder, from Bandolero and Dash racing to Truck, Nationwide and Cup competition.
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