David Ragan to Front Row Motorsports

[FloridaFan88]

From Jayski:
David Ragan to Front Row Motorsports: David Ragan, who spent the past five seasons driving for Roush Fenway Racing, will drive for Front Row Motorsports in the Sprint Cup series in 2012. An official announcement is scheduled for early next week, sources said. It remains unclear which team Ragan will drive for at Front Row, which fielded Ford teams last season for #34-David Gilliland and #38-Travis Kvapil [and a limited schedule with the #55].(Charlotte Observer)(1-14-2012)

With the equipment Ragan has now, I expect him to finish 20th-25th in the points standings. At least he has a ride.

 

[Mo Neenja31]

Well, atleast it ain't a Start 'n Park....

 

[Blazityler]

it is going to be interesting to see how these small teams do during this new season, alot of these small teams are getting some talented drivers.(Kurt Busch, Reutimann, Ragan) I would love to see these teams be able to compete with some of the big dogs

 

[4WideRacing]

This move was one that I'm not surprised by. I wonder if they will add a car or ditch a driver. I would hate to see them can Kvapil or Gilliland since they have helped the team a lot. I see Yeley being the odd man out, he had the worst numbers last year and showed that he wasn't able to do much in the #18.

 

[Markfan]

From Jayski:
With the equipment Ragan has now, I expect him to finish 20th-25th in the points standings. At least he has a ride.

Other than in 2008, he's never finished higher than 23rd in the standings with Roush. He would have to step up his game to be in that range with Front Row, especially since FRM is basically a Roush satellite.

 

[David24]

I feel sorry for him...i mean he shouldn't even be racing in Cup. He should take some notes from E. Sad.

 

[Relly]

My least favorite driver joins my favorite team...

I hope Gilly is back...I feel bad for Travis and JJ as they worked their a$$ off to get the 38 in the top 35 but I guess this is a business and you have to do whats best for the team...I will by no means cheer for Ragan tho, and I don't think he'll be all that great if you want my honest opinion only reason he has had decent runs is because he was in some of the best equipment money can buy. Its going to be interesting to see what he can do in 3 year old cars and recycled parts...I guess he's more marketable to sponsors but JJ and Travis would have been cheaper and gotten the same results.

I lose some respect for Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Freeze after this one

 

[WinstonCup426]

I just hope this means they don't boot Gilliland.

 

[B.McKeever]

I see Gilliland, Yeley, and Ragan.

I see Kvapil going back to Truck Series to kick some butt. Maybe Kvapil will end up in the # 60/66 Chevrolet since Benson's deal fell through. Kvapil needs to go back and "regroup" just like Sadler did. Kvapil was thrown into Penske's #77 then kind of tossed around. Got back with Yates Racing (which was sub-par at the time) in the # 28 and kind of lingered until being hired by Front Row. He was going to do the whole season in the # 5 Toyota but David Dollar screwed up Randy Moss Motorsports, got fired, and now Moss is taking the reigns.

As for Ragan @ Front Row. Eh. I hope he does decent but I think it's just a hire for sponsors-sake.

 

[K.Chuck]

This is a good move, he has some talent but wasnt a good fit for the 6 car. I think this will take some pressure off the kid and he should shine as Front Rows flag ship driver.

 

[MattSRD28]

Kvapil has some interesting baggage after his very quiet departure from Randy Moss Motorsports' #5, and then later on in the year being quasi-replaced by J.J. Yeley and the carousel with FRM's start & park #55 car. I don't think Kvapil has much of anything left to offer someone. It's basically up to anyone who might want to call him. Similar to Jason Leffler & Reed Sorenson's situations.

Ragan's most likely headed to FRM's 2nd team, be it the #38 or whatever it is in 2012. Sponsorship has always been FRM's problem, especially since the owner can put Yum! brand logos on it and make so it doesn't look like the team is unsponsored. This is one of the toughest years to find sponsorship in the last decade. It'll be interesting to see what comes about here.

 

[B.McKeever]

I bet David Gilliland wishes he would've taken offer to drive for Richard Childress instead of Robert Yates in 2007.

Showed real signs of "stardom" taking a junky # 84 Chevy to victory lane then getting offers left & right. Signed with RYR, then became Yates Racing, then became FRM. He has always had "downhill" equipment since he signed into Cup. He DID do the couple of starts for JGR # 02, but that was probably a "R&D" car anyway.

 

[amidst tundra]

Wasn't Gilliland running round unsponsored at the end of last year? Did they lose Taco Bell? All three drivers are very much of a muchness... Yeley could have had a rain win last year which would have been fun, Gilliland hasn't done much of anything but usually looks pretty good on the roadies and Kvapil is nothing better than solid although he did spend 2010 basically qualifying whatever team Kevin Conway had managed to drop out of the top 35 in his absurd ROY season. Personally I'd prefer to see Kvapil and Yeley stay and see Gilliland maybe give sportscars a go, or Gilliland and Yeley stay and see Kvapil return to the trucks. Yeley has a lot of experience I just don't know where he would land if he was the one to get cut.

 

[4WideRacing]

Taco Bell wasn't a real sponsor, it's just that Bob Jenkins owns a lot of Taco Bell, Long John Silver's, and A&W franchises and uses those companies as "sponsors" for his team.

 

[Markfan]

He probably meant well with that, he didn't want blank cars, but overall that has to have been part of the reason that they can't find sponsors. How many companies are going to think that they can sponsor a team that displays big names like Taco Bell and Long John Silver's?

 

[K.Chuck]

I am sure he accounts for the time their on the car in his advertising budget for the fast food chains. Theres more to it than just not wanting blank cars. Business is business and you dont take anything for granted financially.

 

[B.McKeever]

It's a write-off for his companies. However, I hear YUM! Brands is going under, so it makes you wonder.

However, he did state the reason for Gilliland's white cars was to attract sponsors.

 

[4WideRacing]

In 2011, David Gilliland returned to Front Row Motorsports running the #34 Taco Bell Ford for the full season. He would go on to finish 3rd in the 2011 Daytona 500, 9th in the 2011 Aaron's 499, and 12th in the 2011 Toyota/Save Mart 350. These three finishes are Front Row Motorsports top 3 finishes in team history, as well as first top 5 finish and first top 10 finishes.
As of January 2012, David Gilliland was released from the team. Current team status for 2012 is unknown.

I'm hoping that it's just because Wikipedia isn't the most trustworthy place. I didn't realize that David had the teams only top-5 and top 10's, I would think that would be a great reason to keep him.

 

[B.McKeever]

Wikipedia is all user entered information. We would see it posted by now. Check Front Row's facebook, they may have something to explain on the issue. I don't see why they would kick Gilliland to the curb, but maybe he can pull a "Sadler" and go back to Turner Motorsports and kick some ass.

 

[Relly]

Front Row Motorsports Poised to Progress, Adds Ragan to Line-Up

Gilliland will be back


As far as Taco Bell/A&W/Long Johns Silvers, the team owner Bob Jenkins owns 100+ of those restaurants throughout the country, and he uses his cars to promote them, he runs the team out of his pocket, and YUM Brands (parent company of those resturants) does not kick in any money at all. The only "true sponsors" this team had last year were Vampt, Tastykakes, Gander Mtn, Delaware's Drive Sober Arrive Alive and Ingersoll Rand. So between the 34, 38 and 55 they ran sponsor-less majority of the year, including the races when Taco Bell, A&W and LJS were on the cars