Sports Spotlight: David Ragan Works To Improve With New Team At NASCAR’s Highest Level

PERRY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – After a mistake cost him a chance for victory in the 2011 Daytona 500, winning the summer Daytona race was sweet redemption for NASCAR driver David Ragan.

Racing is in the Ragan bloodline. David learned stock car racing from his father Ken, who competed in the Winston Cup Series in the 80’s and taught him a strong work ethic.

Now with a new team in 2012, that mentality is more important than ever. “Certainly your goal is to win every week, but with a new team and a little bit smaller group, you try to improve week in and week out,” said Ragan.

He drives for the Front Row Motorsports team this season and says despite having less team members and a smaller budget, his strategy pretty much stays constant. “You run as hard as you can, you try to use the best pit strategies that you can to get the best finish.”

Coming home to Middle Georgia brings a good boost of support for the Unadilla native. “It’s fun and so it’s kind of a homecoming when we come back. We get to see a lot of people that we typically don’t get to spend time with because we’re on the road or you know, living in North Carolina now,” he said.

One David’s biggest fans is 17-year-old Nick Etheridge who works at David Ragan Ford in Perry. “Since they moved to Perry, Georgia I’ve been following all of his races yes sir.”

Etheridge got a chance to work at the dealership with Ken Ragan and says his dream is to work in NASCAR. “I’d like to work with David in the long run and be able to work on the NASCAR pit crew and try to do good like that.”

Spending time with Nick brings back memories of growing up around the track as a youngster for David. “It was just a few years ago that I was a young guy working around or you know trying to get out of high school and get to the next level, so it’s fun to see the next generation coming up and trying to help them out and help them not learn the hard way like I did on a few things.”