David Ragan
Young David Ragan as a good incredible amount of pressure on him in 2007 as he takes over the legendary Jack Roush Racing #6. Jack Roush believes that David Ragan has an incredible amount of talent. While that may be true Ragan has been doing a good job of hiding it so far in his career. In 29 career Truck Series starts he has only one top-five finish. His brief Busch and NEXTEL Cup careers include only nine total races, but zero top tens and an average finish of 33rd.
On the plus side David Ragan gets to take over the most established team of all of these rookies. Mark Martin qualified for The Chase with this same team in 2006. The team can get the job done, but I have a concern about Ragan's learning curve. He may be talented, but going from zero to NEXTEL Cup in a matter of months is a tall order for any driver.
David Reutimann
David Reutimann finished third in the 2006 Craftsman Truck Series standings. Reutimann did not find Victory Lane in 2006 however, he was the most consistent driver in the series with more top tens (19) than any other driver. This seems to be Reutimann's style overall. He isn't one to push for more than the car will give, but he is incredibly consistent and very good at bringing the car home in one piece.
Reutimann's solid style is perfect for Michael Waltrip's upstart Toyota NEXTEL Cup team. It is hard enough starting out in NEXTEL Cup without having to rebuild a wrecked race car every week. If Reutimann can keep bringing the car home in one piece than the team can focus on improving instead of repairing race cars.
Reutimann starts the season without any car owner points to fall back on, but if he can make the show for the first six races I think he will be OK in 2007.
