The term crash course may not be the most sought after phrase when talking about someone in motorsports, but it’s the best way to describe the rookie season of David Ragan.

In order to get as much experience as possible, Ragan competed full-time in the NASCAR Nextel Cup and NASCAR Busch Series because he had not seen many of the tracks that make up the circuit. The goal put before Ragan was simple—log laps. While being competitive and winning races is the ultimate goal, Ragan was asked to simply get experience by running as many laps as possible.

Mission accomplished.

Ragan failed to finish only nine of 71 races combined in the two series and along with that came some solid results.

In the Nextel Cup Series, Ragan started off with a bang by finishing fifth in the season-opening Daytona 500. But his best race came at Richmond in September when he qualified eighth and finished third.

Ragan also ended the year on a strong note by finishing 10th in the Ford 400 at Homestead Miami Speedway, snapping a streak of six races outside the top 20. That solid run to close out the season enabled him to finish 23rd in the point standings.

Ragan’s progress last season at the age of 21 proved that car owner Jack Roush knew what he was doing when he tabbed the Georgia native to take control of the No. 6 AAA

Ragan earned the job after showing steady progress in 19 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts in 2006. He, along with Martin, helped the No. 6 Scott’s team finish second in the owner’s point standings that season.

Having Martin and Ragan team up was nothing really new since the two worked together previously in 2003 during the summer shootout series at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

A native of Unadilla, Ga, Ragan began his racing career at the age of 11 when he started competing at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the Bandolero Bandits division. He won championships on a regular basis as he moved to Legends cars and then Late Models by the age of 16.

The progression continued with a pair of ARCA races in 2003 at the age of 17 and then to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2004 when he made 10 starts for owner Tom Eldredge. His next major step came in ‘05 when he won his first ARCA race at the age of 19 (Lanier National Speedway).

But where Ragan became a recognized name was on the reality-based cable television show with Roush Racing called Driver X. The show pitted a number of drivers trying to land a job with Roush Racing and even though Ragan did not win, he made it to the final four and impressed team representatives so much that they hired him at the beginning of the ‘06 season.