Front Row Motorsports announced Monday that they have signed driver David Ragan.
Ragan will drive the team’s No. 34 Ford alongside David Gilliland for the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Ragan replaces Travis Kvapil who competed in the car for most of last season.
"Front Row has made great progress in the last few years, and I look forward to helping them advance to the next level," Ragan said. "I think the team appreciates what I can bring to the table, and I think it's a good opportunity for both of us. I've also enjoyed a long relationship with Ford and I'm glad that I'll get to keep working with them."
Ragan lost his ride at Roush-Fenway Racing after that team failed to come up with sponsorship for this year. The 26-year-old Unadilla, Georgia native is coming off an impressive season that included one win, at Daytona last July, along with two poles, and four top-five and eight top-10 finishes.
Gilliland’s beat finish last season was a third in the season opening Daytona 500. Both teams are locked into the first races in 2012 based on owner’s points from last season.
"We've gotten better year to year and even week to week in the time I've been with Front Row, so I'm excited to be back for a third year and to have David (Ragan) as a teammate," Gilliland said. "It's good to be back in the '38' car, too. It was my dad's number, and I've also had some pretty good days at the racetrack with that number on the door."
Front Row Motorsports is owned by restaurant and transportation entrepreneur Bob Jenkins and enters its fourth full-time season in the Sprint Cup Series after earning one top-5, two top-10, three top-15 and five top-20 finishes in 2011, including the history-best third at Daytona.
"When you look at some of the large, storied teams in NASCAR that have been running for decades, we're still pretty young by comparison," Jenkins said. "But I like the upgrades we're making and the improvements we're seeing, and I am confident we will be able to compete with them on a consistent basis in the not-too-distant future. Ragan is a proven competitor and race winner, Gilliland had a really solid season for us last year, Roush Yates engines are the best in the sport, and Ford continues to provide invaluable support, so I feel like 2012 is really going to be our year to step up to the next level. Plus, I now have two Davids to engage Goliath, and we know how that day ended."
The team did not announce any sponsors for the season but added they are close to securing deals for 2012.
Whether Ragan will find the same kind of success he did in his final year at Roush-Fenway Racing remains to be seen, but among the smaller of NASCAR’s fulltime Sprint Cup teams, with Front Row Ragan should have a good opportunity to shine.
"I am committed to building a competitive race team by employing the same fundamental business principles that have worked for my other successful endeavors, and it all begins with the people," Jenkins said. "We took some pretty big steps in our race program last year and adding David Ragan is another giant step in the right direction.
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