David Ragan 2010 Fantasy NASCAR Preview

[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=david+ragan&iid=5259631″ src=”b/9/a/e/Coke_Zero_400_23ba.jpg?adImageId=8337770&imageId=5259631″ width=”234″ height=”165″ /]David Ragan

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2009 Stats: Points finish 27th, 0 Wins, 0 Top fives, 2 Top tens, Average finish 24.4, Average position 22.9, Driver rating 63.0

After a breakout 2008 many NASCAR pundits thought that David Ragan would become a NASCAR superstar in 2009. Many people viewed him as a solid Chase contender entering the season. Little did anyone know that the first race of the 2009 season would also be his best race of the year. David Ragan got my vote as the most disappointing driver of the year. In 2010 Ragan will get a new crew chief so change is in the air for the 6 team.

Strengths– An important trait for fantasy racers to have is the ability to look beyond things. In Ragan’s case I’m going to back to 2008 and saying that his primary strength was finishing races. Ragan actually completed more laps then any other driver on the circuit (2008). Ragan also isn’t to bad on the restirctor plate tracks.

Weaknesses– Uncertainty. 2009 was an awful year for Ragan so its hard to know what will happen in 2010.

Intermediate Track Grade- B, Toward the end of the season Ragan started running better on these tracks. Intermediate tracks are the bread and butter of Roush-Fenway Racing so I fully expect them to improve their performances in 2010. The new Ford motor should also help them on these tracks.

Flat Track Grade- C, Ragan didn’t do anything really stellar on these tracks last season. In fact Ragan never broke the top 20. His average finish on these tracks was 26.8. Horsepower is extremely important for these tracks and with the new Ford engine of the way this grade could potentially be a B.

Restrictor Plate Tracks Grade- B+, Ragan has always been a skilled restrictor plate driver ever since he started racing in the Sprint Cup Series. I predict the first he race that he wins will be on this type of track.

Short Tracks Grade- C, Ragan did a pretty good job of avoiding trouble at the short tracks last season, but he simply wasn’t competitive. In fact he only had 1 top fifteen finish last year on these tracks. In the Nationwide series Ragan did win the night race at Bristol.

Road Courses Grade- C-, Lets just say he’s not ambidextrous.

How to use David Ragan from a fantasy racing perspective in 2010?

I honestly expect David Ragan to greatly improve in 2010 and race more like he did in 2008 then he did in 2009. I expect the most out of Ragan at the restrictor plate tracks and the intermediate tracks. Ragan is once again a solid sleeper and I would highly recommend you grab him as early as possible (not to early) in your fantasy NASCAR draft.

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