Apparently Nascar was not happy with David Ragan either! He was taken out of the race for Atlanta! A lot of the driver felt that a rookie should not be running a race this close to the end of the season, with the chase and such. Here is the article for those of you who have not read about it yet.:
Red light: Ragan won't run Cup race at Atlanta
The Associated Press
October 25, 2006
02:42 PM EDT (18:42 GMT)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- David Ragan failed to gain clearance from NASCAR to race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, and Roush Racing withdrew its entry for him on Tuesday.
Ragan, recently tabbed to replace Mark Martin in Roush's flagship No. 6 Ford next season, had been scheduled to run in both the truck series and Nextel Cup events this weekend in Atlanta. But he first had to be approved to race on superspeedways, and NASCAR declined to give him the go-ahead.
"The committee met and decided his level would remain at tracks one mile in length or less," NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said. "We look at things like experience and qualifications, and his status will continue to be reviewed."
NASCAR did, however, approve A.J. Allmendinger to run the Cup race at Atlanta, even though Allmendinger has only two Truck Series starts on his résumé.
Ragan, on the other hand, has 26 Truck Series starts, seven Busch Series races and two Cup events. But he's wrecked in both of his Cup races, including a three-car accident Sunday at Martinsville Speedway that infuriated Ken Schrader and other veterans.
"We had a rookie out there that was kind of a dart with no feathers out there, but other than him everything was pretty much sane," Tony Stewart complained.
Schrader picked up a piece of his car following the accident and angrily threw it down before walking to his pit stall.
Ragan, the 20-year-old son of former Cup racer Ken Ragan, was remorseful after the accident.
"[My dad] is probably going to tell me, 'Man, you have got to call Schrader and talk to him,' " Ragan said after the race. " 'You don't want to make any enemies.' "
Ragan finished 25th and was on the lead lap at Martinsville. In his first start, in Dover, Del., last month, he completed just 46 laps and finished 42nd.
Can you imagine that he actually ended up finishing on the lead lap after causing such a path of destruction? That just isn't right!!!
Let's hope now that rookie A.J. Allmendinger doesn't take cause much damage this weekend! I don't think they should let such inexperienced rookies run in any of the Chase races. The Chase contenders have way too much to lose to have such rookie potentially messing them up. IMHO, if they have not run all the season, they should not be out there now!
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