Qualifying paying off for David Ragan

For David Ragan, being up front is starting to pay off.
The second-year Roush Fenway driver’s strong qualifying efforts are starting to reward him with good finishes.
Ragan has qualified at least 13th or better in four of last five races. During that span, he finished 17th or better and has moved up to 14th in points heading into Saturday’s Dodge Challenger 500 at Darlington Raceway.
“I think our average qualifying spot this year is about 14th or 15th or something like that, so that certainly helps a lot, even when you don’t have a great race car,“ Ragan said during Monday’s NASCAR teleconference. “If you qualify up front and can keep good track position all day, it certainly makes 400 or 500 miles a lot easier on Sunday.“
Ragan struggled in qualifying during his rookie year. His average starting spot was 24.5 and resulted in a 29.1 average finish.
Ragan said he sat down with crew chief Jimmy Fennig during the offseason and spent time working on qualifying strategy.
“That’s one of the things we sat down and looked at as something that could help our race team and help our finishes,“ Ragan said. “We had some good cars on occasion, but qualifying in the back, having poor track position the whole race, we were never in a position to show everyone what we had.“
Plus, Ragan said, he is more comfortable in the car and knows what to expect during a qualifying session.
“I’ve just got a better feel for what I need to go fast for two laps,“ he said.
Now, Ragan hopes he can continue that momentum this week at the resurfaced Darlington. He finished 27th last year in his lone Cup start at the Lady Black but was 13th in the Diamond Hill Plywood 200.
Ragan said he spoke with teammate Greg Biffle, who tested at Darlington in March, and tried to study Biffle’s notes to help his team prepare for Saturday’s race.
Ragan also hopes Goodyear will bring a little softer tire for the race, unlike what the company did at Lowe’s Motor Speedway and Las Vegas when those tracks were repaved.
“A real hard tire that’s really tough for us to get a handle on, and we kind of struggle through the weekend sometimes,“ Ragan said. “Hopefully they’ve learned, and we’ve got a pretty aggressive tire for this weekend coming up.
“Hopefully it’s kind of like old Darlington, where you can go really fast for a few laps and then the speeds fall off and the times fall off, and you see the good old racing and slipping and sliding.“