Ragan Set For Double Duty In Texas

David Ragan will drive Randy Hill Racing's No. 08 Texas Tech University Ford Mustang in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series O’Reilly Auto Parts Challenge at Texas Motor Speedway.

Ragan, who owns a pair of Nationwide Series wins at Talladega Superspeedway and Bristol Motor Speedway, replaces Casey Roderick, who remains the team’s primary driver. Roderick, 19, will be in attendance for Saturday’s contest to support the team and confer with Ragan.

The team has failed to qualify in its last two attempts at Richmond International Raceway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, and team owner Randy Hill said today that the move is designed to give RHR a fair evaluation of its overall program. “We believe in Casey Roderick and he will race again with us,” said Hill. “But this is a huge race for us and we’ve asked our fellow Ford Racing driver David Ragan to jump in the No. 08 Texas Tech University Ford Mustang to give us an assessment on the positives and negatives of this new Nationwide team. Ragan is a proven wheel man and we believe he can get the job done this weekend.”

"I'm excited about the opportunity to drive in the Nationwide series again,” said Ragan. ”It will be fun working with the new team of Randy Hill Racing, and helping them develop their program. We expect to be fast and to run up front on race day."

Ragan will have to make the field on time, since RHR is not among the Top-30 teams in Nationwide Series owner points. This will be his first Nationwide race since Phoenix International Raceway in 2009.

“We haven’t decided 100 percent if we are going to go to Homestead, so this could be our last race of the year,” said Hill. “Should everything go like we think it should, we will have data and feedback that will make this team stronger entering the 2012 season with Casey Roderick.”