NASCAR Cup Series veteran David Ragan isn’t full-time anymore but his fingerprints are all over the modern initiatives for both the sanctioning body and at Ford Performance.
That’s part of why he has been rewarded with a start in the Daytona 500 this weekend.
He was the lead test driver for Ford during the development of the current generation car and is now the lead simulator driver for the manufacturer. He has also developed as a test driver NASCAR’s electric vehicle that was meant to turn demonstration laps at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum prior to the Busch Clash.
The car uses the same base platform as the NextGen car but has a non-branded crossover SUV shell. During a December test at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, Ragan got the car within a few tenths of a Cup car.
“But from the braking and the regeneration of the electric motors and the torque that the all-wheel drive car has, it’s pretty incredible the performance that it has,” said Ragan at Daytona 500 media day on Wednesday. “I was surprised that the couple of tests that we did went so well. When you design a new car from the ground up and you out-source parts from all around the world that’s a challenge.
“We’ve just scratched the surface on the capabilities of that car and everyone is still learning.”
There are no plans to race the car as part of an existing series or even a new series. In fact, NASCAR says the car was designed to be malleable to implement anything from electric batteries to alternative fuels so that the sanctioning body is prepared for whatever direction the automotive industry goes in over the next decade.
NASCAR is especially keen on hydrogen combustion from an aesthetics standpoint, preferring that to the silence of electric vehicles.
Ragan said the car surprised him in how much power it made.
“The acceleration coming off the corner at Martinsville, when the torque and the power is turned up, I’ve never felt acceleration that fast in my life,” Ragan said. “That’s the fastest I’ve ever accelerated because of the all-wheel drive and the torque. It doesn’t have a transmission and a driveshaft to go through. It’s just immediate power.”
His biggest prediction about the car?
“I’m sure it can go 200 mph,” Ragan said.
Locked In
Ragan successfully qualified into the Daytona 500 on Wednesday based on speed driving a No. 60 for RFK Racing.
It’s a full circle moment for Ragan, who spent his formative years racing for Roush Racing, including his win in the summer race at Daytona in 2011 driving the No. 6. It’s a full circle moment that he is keenly aware of too.
“I feel like it has been a flash of the eyes from when I was here 16, 17 years ago, you know, as a 20-year-old,” Ragan said. “Jack Roush took a chance on me as a kid to put in his premier car. I remember that first Daytona 500. I had no idea what I was getting involved in. Somehow we crossed the start-finish line in fifth that race. I kind of walked away from that first one. I thought, ‘man, this is easy. I finished fifth in my first one. I’ll probably win next year.’
“Here I am 16 years down the road still trying to get that win, but it’s awesome to come back and drive a car that Jack Roush and Doug Yates have an engine in, and to see what Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher have done for RFK to bring that team back to the championship caliber team that it has been.
“That’s a testament to their character, to their skill as race car drivers, but also their leaders as a race team. So it’s fun to see a lot of familiar faces that were there during the glory days that put in all the hard work when they were kind of at their low point four or five years ago and to see them smiling, walking around the race shop knowing they’ve got some cars that can go win races.”
And at some point, Roush will be at the track too, and that’s going to be a special moment for Ragan given how much that relationship has meant to the now suddenly 38-year-old.
“So I haven’t talked to Jack today, but I have spent some time chatting with him lately,” Ragan said after locking into the Daytona 500. “It’s always great to get some words of advice from Jack.
“I owe a lot to Jack Roush and Jeff Smith back in the day to take a chance on a 19-year-old kid that just wanted to go racing. So certainly, there is a lot of pride to come back to Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing and to see how successful they’ve been in the past couple seasons, getting that team turned back around. I know that makes Jack real proud and real happy.
“He’ll be at the racetrack this weekend. Yeah, I don’t have my phone with me. Maybe he’s tried to call or text me. He’s a pretty good texter. I’ll have to go back and see what he’s doing. I know he’s watching with a lot of great interest. I know he’ll have some words of advice for me, too.
“I owe a lot to Jack. I’m grateful that he and Brad had enough confidence in me to drive one of their race cars and be a teammate this weekend.”
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.