NASCAR: Top-Five Drivers To Never Make The Chase

No. 2 – David Ragan

David Ragan’s championship aspirations may be up in the air coming into the 2016 season, however he is still number two on my list.

In order to understand why Ragan is so high on this list you have to go back to the 2008 season. Ragan had a decent rookie season in 2007 when he finished 24th in the point standings driving the No. 6 car for Roush Fenway Racing. In 2008 it seemed like everything came together for the young driver.

Ragan recorded six top five finishes and 14 top ten finishes in 2008, all of which are still career highs. He narrowly missed the Chase after a crash with teammate Matt Kenseth at Richmond cost him what could have been a Chase birth in his second full season in Cup. Ragan wound up finishing 13th in the standings.

The next three years at Roush though hurt his stance immensely. Ragan and his team struggled, finishing 27th in the point standings in 2009 and 24th in the standings in 2010. He would record his first career win at Daytona International Speedway in July 2011 and would finish 23rd in the series point standings.

After three lackluster seasons at Roush Fenway Racing Ragan moved to Front Row Motorsports. It was a far tumble for the young driver but his patience paid off when Ragan won the 2013 Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway in miraculous fashion.  It was a win everyone was impressed with and one that if we ran with today’s rules would have gotten him in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

In 2015  Ragan ran the majority of the season between Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing recording just one top ten finish through 26 races.

His near miss in 2008 has him high on this list.

Next: The Top Choice