Ragan takes noteworthy approach to Charlotte

STATESVILLE, N.C. - Unlike some other tracks the Sprint Cup Series has visited this season, Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway shouldn't produce too many surprises for NASCAR's Generation-6 car.

David Ragan

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

No. 34 Taco Bell Ford driver David Ragan says his team has run enough laps on the 1.5-mile track this season that his team should have plenty of notes to prepare for Saturday night's Bank of America 500.

In addition to the Cup Series' 600-mile race at the Concord, N.C., track in May, Ragan also competed in the All-Star race the week prior at the venue. The team also participated in a two-day test at the speedway in January.

Ragan has 13 career starts at Charlotte, coming up just short of Victory Lane with a second-place finish in 2011. He has one-top five, three top-10 and five top-15 finishes at NASCAR's home track. He finished 25th at the 600-mile race at the track in May.

Comments from Taco Bell team driver David Ragan leading into Charlotte:

"We love racing in Charlotte, and this will be a Saturday night race in the Chase, so it will be fun. It's not the 600-mile event like we had in May but still a good 500 miles. It's a little different strategy because it's not quite as long, but you still have to race hard and be prepared to adjust as the night wears on.

"We'll take what we learned from the 600 and the All-Star race, and even pre-season testing, and we'll have a lot of good notes to go off of. It'll be our jobs to go through all those notes and figure out what the best package is and try to have a good run for the Saturday night race.

"It's always fun being home. You get to sleep in your own bed. You get to see lots of friends and family at the track. Our team guys always have friends and family there, too, and we also get to bring some of the guys and gals from the shop to the track because they don't usually travel with the team week to week.

You've got folks like the fabricators who build the cars we race every week, and they don't usually get to see the results on track except for on TV. So it's cool when we get all those people at the track, too. It's kind of like a big open house or a family reunion."

Front Row Motorsports