How David Ragan’s Entry in the Daytona 500 Could Be Monumental for RFK Racing

The Daytona 500 of 2023 remains a bitter memory for RFK Racing despite all the breakthroughs they achieved this year. The team’s star drivers Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher powered through the superpeedway, wreaking havoc on their opponents last February. Yet, neither got to take the trophy home. While Buescher finished at P4, Keselowski landed at P22 after being thrown into a barrier in the final lap.

Come 2024, RFK Racing will have one more shot at the crown jewel event of NASCAR. This time, their chances will be fortified with the #Stage60 program and its first entrant, David Ragan.

The added fortification that David Ragan brings to RFK Racing

Ever since Brad Keselowski took up the mantle as a team co-owner in 2022, he has been hard at work on bringing the once-feared team back to its former glory. The standings on the 2023 driver’s table are a testament. When the dust settled at Phoenix, Buescher stood at 7th and Keselowski at 8th. Without a doubt, the team and the drivers are on the right path. But a win in the 2024 Daytona 500 would go a long way in establishing them among the top-tier teams.

Despite their failure to achieve the win in 2023, the show that the drivers put on was a completely dominant one. Had it not been for the number of Chevrolets on the grid, they could have very well taken the first two spots. Nevertheless, their performance amidst all those numbers is precisely why David Ragan’s entry into the mix is very exciting. A third Ford at the front of the pack for RFK Racing in 2023 could have potentially helped Keselowski’s chances. And that is what they will have in 2024.

The prestigious win has been evading RFK Racing for far too long now. The team has won it only twice before and the last time it did so was almost a decade back. It will have the best shot to get its hands on the trophy again next year, for David Ragan is a Daytona 500 veteran.

The unfinished job that David Ragan has left at RFK Racing

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Back in 2011, when David Ragan raced under the banner of the then-Roush Fenway Racing, he fell victim to a penalty that broke his chance of winning the Daytona 500. Though the loss was heartbreaking, he left the team at the end of the year seeking other venues to prove himself. But thanks to the #Stage60 program, he will be back in RFK colors again. Since he isn’t a standard entry, Ragan will have to qualify for the race first. But considering his experience, it should be a child’s feat.

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Over his long career with 476 Cup Series starts, Ragan also has 16 Daytona 500 entries and 30 starts on the track. In his own fuel-loaded words, “We had a really strong run going in my last year at Roush at the 500, and hopefully, we can go back and finish what we started.” As Ragan drives the famed #60 that pays homage to the Roush Stage III Mustang to finish what he started, his teammates will shoulder him to create a frightening “Dark Horse Trio.”

Ragan’s entry into the fray puts Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing as the one team to watch out for, come February 2024.

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