Ragan’s career path changed forever after stop-and-go penalty at NASCAR’s most important race.
- David Ragan was black-flagged for what NASCAR called an illegal move in overtime at the 2011 Daytona 500.
- The stop-and-go penalty cost Ragan the victory and changed his NASCAR career path forever.
- Ragan says the pain of that 2011 mistake is still there, but not like it used to be.
There once were days when David Ragan couldn’t get away from replaying the 2011 Daytona 500. Occasionally, but not often, he’d pass an entire day and sleep through the night without fretting about how he fumbled away NASCAR’s most important race.
The short version:
Driving the No. 6 Ford for Roush-Fenway Racing, the then-25-year-old Georgia native was leading at the first of two green-white-checkered restarts, at lap 201. He got a good restart— maybe too good?—and dropped from the outside line to the inside before he reached the start-finish line. He didn’t improve his position—he was the leader; how could he?—but his move put him in front of drafting partner Trevor Bayne.
NASCAR immediately black-flagged Ragan for a stop-and-go penalty, leading to a 14th-place finish instead of a possible (likely) victory. Bayne inherited the point as Ragan served his penalty, and the 20-year-old won for Wood Brothers Racing.
Despite winning two Cup Series races later in his career, the blown Daytona 500 is perhaps Ragan’s best-remembered “standout” moment. His 13-year full-schedule Cup career has been called a “tweener” … as in between glorious victories and abject failure.
David Ragan will start 34th for the 2022 Daytona 500.
Icon SportswireGetty Images
He came in with high expectations, replacing future Hall of Fame driver Mark Martin at Roush-Fenway Racing in 2006. He stayed with RFR (now Roush-Fenway-Keselowski) with modest success for six seasons, winning the July 2011 race at Daytona Beach. He spent seven of the next eight years at Front Row Racing (2016 for BK Racing), giving Front Row owner Bob Jenkins his first victory, at Talladega in 2013.
Ragan stepped back from full-time racing after 2019, but did the 2020 and 2021 Daytona 500s to scratch that persistent itch. He also did much of the driver-related R&D on the NextGen Mustangs for Ford Performance. His dedication to quit racing to spend more time with his wife and two girls seems as genuine today as when he stepped back after 2019. Now 36, he is both a gentleman and a gentle man.
The pain of that 2011 mistake is still there, but not like it used to be. After all, winning a Daytona 500 for Ford Performance, Roush-Fenway Racing, and UPS might have changed his life. But it didn’t, and he’s good with that.
David Ragan (6) holds off eventual race winner Trevor Bayne (21) late in the race at the 2011 Daytona 500.
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“If I’d won that race UPS might have stayed with Roush-Fenway,” he speculated. “I’d probably have signed another contract extension with Jack. Not winning that race might have cost me several million dollars, but I don’t think it would have changed me as a man. I’d be the same man I am right now if I hit the (Florida) lottery tomorrow night and won $100 million, I’d be the same man I am right now.
“I might not be flying coach any more, but I’d still have the same car I have now. We’d still live in the same house in North Carolina. Our girls would still have gone to the schools they were in at the time. I’d still be shopping in the bargain aisles. I don’t dwell on it, but I think about it some, especially when I’m watching restarts.”
“I might not be flying coach any more, but I’d still have the same car I have now.”
Ragan and Bayne had drafted well together much of that 500. Ragan’s late penalty disappointed team owner Eddie Wood, who worried that Bayne might not find another partner. “Trevor was the fastest pusher I’d ever had,” Ragan said. “That 21 (of Bayne) was fast and my car was fast, too. There was no way one or the other of us wasn’t going to win.
“I just misinterpreted the rule. It says you can’t improve your position before the line, but I didn’t improve. I’ve looked at replays of the Truck race and Xfinity and Duels and the 500 that weekend, and taken note of every restart. It must have happened a dozen times to other drivers, but the only time they called it was on me.
“But that’s okay. It took a little while—until I won that summer’s race at Daytona—but I got over it. I’m mostly retired but still have a role (with Ford) in the sport, so I can’t complain. That 500 trophy would have just been something else for my wife and kids to look at.”
Keyword: Why NASCAR Racer David Ragan May Never Totally Get Over 2011 Daytona 500