During Wednesday night’s qualifying session for the Daytona 500, David Ragan beat out Jimmie Johnson to lock into Sunday’s race. Back when these two were both full-time, it was the Jimmie Show in NASCAR. Ragan is getting a little get-back in this latest battle.
Driving the Stage 60 car for RFK Racing, Ragan knew he’d have a car capable of making the race. However, you never know until you do it. Throw in the fact that Anthony Alfredo had an absolute blister of a lap for an open car and the margin of error was very narrow.
Before we knew it, David Ragan was sweating it out as Jimmie Johnson made his pass on the track. Toyota as a whole didn’t perform well in qualifying, as they have lacked in the past several years on this night at Daytona.
After locking himself into the Daytona 500, Ragan talked about watching Seven-Time make his way around the superspeedway.
“Well, initially I thought, Man, we’re cutting this way too close,” Ragan said to the media after qualifying. “I felt like we’d have a really fast race car, and we do. I really wasn’t expecting that lap from Anthony. That was a great lap for him and that team. Congratulations to those guys.
“I didn’t have a chance to beat Jimmie Johnson too often in my career when he and I were running week in, week out. I’ll take the small victories when I can.
“That just shows you how close the competition is. All these teams work hard on all the details. Every 10th, half of a 10th mean something. To be able to get locked in on pole night is really special. We’ve still got a lot of work in front of us to have some speed to go contend for a win.”
Could David Ragan win the 2024 Daytona 500?
David Ragan trying to shock the world at Daytona
Looking at his history at Daytona and superspeedways in general, David Ragan has a knack for this kind of race. His drafting skills are top-tier. Brad Keselowski felt that they pulled one of the best free agents they could for a one-off race.
Ragan has two career victories in the Cup Series, one at Talladega and one at the July Daytona race. Twice in his career, in 2007 and 2020, Ragan has finished in the top-5 in the Daytona 500. That 2020 effort was with Rick Ware Racing.
Ragan was able to put the RWR No. 15 car into the top-10 at both Daytona races in 2022, a testament to how much he gets from his equipment.
RFK Racing feels like they have three very good chances at winning Daytona. Between Chris Buescher, Keselowski, and Ragan, I’m not sure who has the best shot. How great would it be for Brad to win the Daytona 500 for the first time and break his winless streak that dates back to 2021?
There are two Ford Mustang Dark Horses on the front row. Joey Logano the pole winner and Michael McDowell P2. Is this going to be a big weekend for the Blue Ovals?
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