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NASCAR
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

David Ragan grateful for shot at JGR and teammates glad to have him

Jeff Gluck
USA TODAY Sports
David Ragan will drive the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota beginning this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

HAMPTON, Ga. — At age 20, David Ragan was named as Mark Martin's successor at Roush Fenway Racing.

He was elevated from the Truck Series without much experience at NASCAR's highest levels and, not surprisingly, it didn't go well. After five seasons, he was released from Roush and ended up at underfunded Front Row Motorsports, where he's spent the last three seasons.

Now Ragan is getting another shot with one of NASCAR's top teams — at least on a temporary basis. The Georgia native, 29, will substitute for the injured Kyle Busch in Joe Gibbs Racing's No. 18 car for at least the next few weeks beginning this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"Certainly, there is an unfortunate situation where their guy is injured," Ragan told reporters Thursday. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to get into one of the premier rides in our sport for a little while to see where I stand in my career as a driver."

But for the arrangement to work, it required what Ragan described as "give and take" from both JGR and Front Row. Ragan said he got a call Monday from JGR asking if he'd be interested in replacing Busch; since Front Row had a lack of full-time funding for its No. 34 car this season, Ragan said he was open to it.

The next step was talking to Front Row officials about the swap. The team and sponsor CSX agreed to move its races to alternate dates to accommodate Ragan's temporary absence (Joe Nemechek will drive the 34 this weekend).

Though it's a unique situation, it could benefit Front Row under NASCAR's new Chase for the Sprint Cup format. If Ragan wins a race in the No. 18 car, he could return to Front Row and drive the No. 34 car in the playoff (the No. 18 would make the owner's Chase, which is separate).

"If it were a situation where I was committed to a full-time program and we had a full-time sponsor, it would have been something I couldn't have made happen," Ragan said. "The stars just aligned right."

Ragan also had the endorsement of his temporary teammates. JGR drivers Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth both drove with Ragan at Roush Fenway, and they, along with Busch and JGR's Denny Hamlin, supported the decision.

"David has a lot of experience," Edwards said. "He's a great teammate and when his name was brought up, I thought, 'Man, that's a great guy to be in that race car.'

"So yeah, my vote was to put David in the car and the way I understand it, everybody felt the same way."

Said Ragan: "I don't think I would be in the 18 M&M's Camry without their help."

Busch remains hospitalized in the Charlotte area following his Saturday crash at the Daytona Xfinity Series race. He suffered a compound fracture of his right leg, which required immediate surgery, and a broken left foot, which required surgery on Wednesday.

There's no timetable for Busch's return.

"He's certainly the man, and our sport is better with him," Ragan said. "NASCAR Sprint Cup Series racing needs Kyle Busch out there on the racetrack."

Follow Gluck on Twitter @jeff_gluck

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