Quick Hits: Richmond International Raceway

The Sprint Cup Series heads to the 3/4-mile Richmond International Raceway for its final race of the regular season, with eight drivers competing for six available spots in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. While Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Jeff Burton are already locked into the Chase, and Greg Biffle will be simply by starting this weekend, some of the sport’s top names and up-and-coming stars are still searching for a Chase berth.

Among those drivers is 13th-place David Ragan, the heir to Mark Martin in the No. 6 Ford at Roush Fenway Racing. Although Ragan could barely keep the car running straight two years ago in an abysmal start in Martinsville, he’s improved a full ten positions in the standings from his overall position last year. Although he hasn’t won yet, Ragan, fourth on the Roush food chain behind Edwards, Biffle and Matt Kenseth, has five top-5s this season, more than Burton, 12th-place Clint Bowyer, 14th-place Kasey Kahne, or 16th-place Ryan Newman, the 2008 Daytona 500 winner.

At the same time, however, many wonder whether the sophomore driver’s season has been a product of a newfound maturity behind the wheel, or a combination of luck and Roush power. Securing a spot in the Chase this weekend would prove that Ragan’s no fluke.

Obviously, longtime NASCAR sponsor UPS is banking on Ragan being an annual force in the series, as rumors are abound that place the Atlanta-based company on the Georgia driver’s car for the 2009 season and beyond. Having failed to visit Victory Lane since 2005, the company wants an up-and-coming driver to throw its support behind after leaving Michael Waltrip Racing this season, and Ragan appears to be the perfect fit for the company.

However, we’ve seen drivers with plenty of promise falter before. Remember Casey Atwood? He had full backing from Dodge and Sirius, and couldn’t find Victory Lane. Scott Riggs hasn’t exactly done much with his career, save one 20th-place in points a few years back, even with the undying support of Valvoline. And Todd Kluever - the man who was really supposed to replace Martin at NASCAR’s largest team - flipped his car in an ARCA race in Daytona and was simply never the same afterwards.

What makes Ragan such a sure bet to be successful? He’s never won in any of NASCAR’s top three series, while Atwood has 2 Nationwide wins, Riggs has 9 in Nationwide and the trucks, and Kluever has three second-places in one Truck Series season. However, besides an unshakeable confidence, Ragan generally does a better job of keeping the car off the wall, running smoothly, and in one piece - his 7 career DNF’s in 63 career Cup starts compare favorable to Riggs’ 22 in 156 starts, Atwood’s 12 in 75 starts, and Kluever’s 9 DNF’s in 51 Nationwide starts. This compares favorably, as well, to UPS’s current driver, David Reutimann, who has 12 DNF’s (and 8 DNQ’s)in 52 Cup starts dating back to 2005.

It should also be noted that of past champions who have competed in Sprint Cup this year, it took Terry Labonte 58 races to first visit Victory Lane, his first victory coming in 1980. Bobby Labonte waited until his 74th start to win his first career race, in 1995. Finally, Dale Jarrett won his first race in his 129th start, in 1991, after four full winless seasons. Don’t be concerned at Ragan’s lack of wins - he’s just hitting his stride.

Before the green flag drops on the action at Richmond, here are this week’s five Quick Hits:

5. NASCAR is getting ready to announce a modification to its drug-testing policy within the next few weeks. The modification, according to CEO Brian France, deals with the testing end of the policy, rather than the penalties for a positive test. France did not specifically say that NASCAR would implement random drug testing, but did say in a NASCAR.com report that “there’ll be more testing.”

4. Current Team Red Bull general manager Jay Frye is being courted to join Stewart-Haas Racing in the same position for 2009 and beyond, and is expected to accept the position. No word on what would happen to current general manager Joe Custer.

3. Brad Keselowski was spotted visiting the Penske Racing complex in Mooresville, NC last week. However, Keselowski reportedly turned down a contract offer to drive the team’s No. 12 Dodge for next season, replacing Ryan Newman. David Stremme remains the front-runner for the ride, as a current Penske test driver with a good past relationship with Dodge.

2. The Dario Franchitti experiment is over at Chip Ganassi Racing, with the 2007 IRL champion returning to that series with Ganassi to partner with 2003 series champion Scott Dixon.

1. A new format for the season-opening Bud Shootout will allow the top six teams for each manufacturer into the race, starting with next season’s event. Previously, all pole winners from the previous season, as well as previous Shootout winners, were allowed to enter the race. But with Budweiser being replaced by Coors Light as the official sponsor of NASCAR’s pole award, Anheuser-Busch wanted to distance itself from its rival brewery.

Finally, congratulations to last week’s winners in California, Busch in the Nationwide Series and Johnson in Sprint Cup.