Ragan: Drivers Have Upped Their Game at Sonoma

​Ragan on Sonoma"Once I got the hang of Sonoma a little better, it’s been a lot of fun. Sonoma is a challenging road course because you’ve got a lot of different things that are thrown at you. Handling is important, forward drive is important. It’s almost harder to try to be more aggressive because you always go slower. I’ve found that the smoother I can be and the calmer I can be, it might feel slower but you, in turn, go faster with lap times.

"We've got 1000Bulbs.com back on our Ford for the Sonoma race, so we're looking forward to having that group with us. I’m also looking forward to going there with Michael McDowell as a teammate. He’s a good road racer. He should be able to elevate my road course race weekend a little bit. I’ve had a little success at Sonoma in the past. I’ve never had a great finish, but I’ve felt like I’ve been able to qualify well or run well, and now I just need to put it all together.

"I think the phrase of 'just keep all four wheels on the track' is a little outdated. I think the drivers have gotten so much better. You don’t have as many guys spinning out and making mistakes as we did 10 years ago. I feel like 25 guys are really good when we go to Sonoma. And when you see short track guys, like a Martin Truex or Kevin Harvick or Kyle Busch, they’re really good at Sonoma without having that road course background. I just think all the drivers have worked on their road racing skills."

Ragan Sonoma Stats
11 starts
Best finish: 24th