Saturday, July 30, 2011
Writing from Speedway, Ind.
David Ragan was just another young driver running along NASCAR’s Sprint Cup trail until early this month, when he made it to the front at Daytona and stayed there, capturing the Coke Zero – nee Firecracker – 400.
Saturday, he added another string to his bow, winning the pole for Sunday’s 18th Brickyard 400.
How important is that? Very, if he’s got a car that can go the distance – and he may. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway offers little room for stock cars to pass on. Ragan wouldn’t be able to run away and hide, but nor would he be stuck back in the pack.
Or it may mean nothing. After all, Rick Mast and Reed Sorenson have won the pole at the Brickyard and received little for the effort. But it’s logical to lean to the former notion when it comes to Ragan, and not just because he won at Daytona.
Ragan, 25, has been coming on. He has two other top-five finishes and six top 10s this season, including a second at Concord, N.C., on Memorial Day in the Coca-Cola 600. He sat on the pole at Texas as well in his Roush-owned Ford.
The Brickyard isn’t sponsored by a carbonated drink, so Ragan will be breaking new ground if he wins here. And he’ll be happy to.
“I didn’t know I could go out and get that perfect a lap,” Ragan said, but he should have known. He was fourth in pre-qualifying practice, with a best lap of 181.800 mph, and improved on that when it mattered, running 182.994 mph, the 44th of 48 drivers to take a lap.
“My car did what it needed to do,” Ragan said. “I hit my marks. I was on the throttle hard. I could feel the engine pulling hard off the corners and was happy. We still need to work on it a little bit for race trim. We’re just a little bit off.”
Ragan, who calls himself his toughest critic, nonetheless pushed three-time Brickyard winner Jimmie Johnson off the pole, and three drivers later, Kasey Kahne knocked Johnson off the front row. Johnson will start third, alongside Kurt Busch. Jamie McMurray, last year’s winner, will start 16th, close to the middle of the 43-car pack.
Kahne was tickled to be on the front row after his 182.927 lap.
“We just had a great lap,” he said. “David’s lap must have been a good lap too because mine felt really good. I slipped (exiting Turn 4), but I never came off the gas. It didn’t cost me the pole.”
Kahne was only 18-thousandths of a second slower than Ragan. And the fifth-fastest qualifier, Brad Keselowski, was only .118 slower. Sprint Cup qualifying resembles NHRA Pro Stock in that regard, with all the top drivers bunched, and sometimes only the luck of the draw – or a cloud – helping sort them out.
That’s why NASCAR moved qualifying to the early afternoon this year, after years of running it in the late morning, and dealing with annual complaints from drivers and owners whose cars ended up qualifying at the end of the line, after the track had heated up. This year, with lunch coming first, and 87-degree temperatures, with humidity to match, throughout, there were no complaints.
“I might have gotten a little bit of a cloud, but not as much as some,” Kahne said.
Contenders are scattered through the pack. The fourth row features Juan Pablo Montoya, who dominated and won the 2000 Indianapolis 500, and Jeff Gordon, whose four Brickyard 400 titles include the 1994 inaugural. Casey Mears, nephew of four-time 500 winner Rick Mears, and crowd favorite Mark Martin are in the sixth row. Two-time winner Tony Stewart is in the 12th row.
“To win the race, you have to be fast, 400 miles worth,” Ragan said. “There’s a lot more than goes into the race than being fast. You have to have a good pit crew, can’t make mistakes on restarts.
“Leading the first lap is certainly a start to that. I’m not saying we’re the No. 1 contender for the championship. But if we were to go out and win tomorrow, I certainly wouldn’t be surprised.”
Around the Brickyard
The shift to later qualifying meant no final “Happy Hour” practice. Many drivers were quickly off to Lucas Oil Raceway – a.k.a. Indianapolis Raceway Park – in nearby Clermont for the Kroger 200, a Nationwide Series race. That affair moves to the Speedway near year, part of the greatly expanded lineup, including sports car races on the Speedway’s road course, that makes the weekend a four-day showcase. … An estimated 17,500 fans were on hand in the mammoth arena, which seats just under 257,000 and has room for tens of thousands more in the infield. … The Speedway announced that next year’s ticket prices will go down in certain areas, including many of the expensive upper-deck seats. Tomorrow’s crowd may be no more than 100,000, which would be a record low for any oval race in the post-World War II era at the track. Last year’s gallery was estimated at 130,000, half-filling the place. The race was a sellout from 1994 through about 2005, but the Goodyear tire fiasco of 2008 prompted many fans not to renew, and those people haven’t been replaced. … Ragan’s car is deep blue with “Gentleman Ned” on the rear quarter-panels, a tribute to Ned Jarrett, recently named to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “I really appreciate it,” said Jarrett. “Thanks so much for lifting me up again.”
– Tim Cronin
