Ragan could be out at Roush

David Ragan

Monday morning, a few hours before he'd celebrate the twin championships his 2011 Roush Fenway Racing Nationwide Series program had won, Jack Roush said his primary Nationwide drivers, series drivers' champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Trevor Bayne, had rides for 2012.

However David Ragan, who has driven Roush's fourth Sprint Cup car for the past five seasons and who already knew the car's current sponsor, UPS, would cut back its involvement in 2012, more than likely won't return.

"My expectation right now is that I don't see having something for David next year," Roush said. "We aren't far enough along … There are some discussions ongoing but they aren't far enough along that I would put more than a 40 percent chance of having something for David."

Ragan's No. 6 program was the enigma, despite being in a position to win the Daytona 500, winning the non-points Sprint Showdown and then scoring Ragan's first points-paying victory, at Daytona in July.

"David Ragan was a frustration and a disappointment for all of us," Roush said, "because he was not able to realize the potential that he had, given what his skill is and what the expectations of the sponsor were, and what the performance that was being demonstrated in the car, and what the engineering package was."

"I have tried to help David," Roush said. "[Would you] characterize what I've done as not attempting to be helpful and to do my very best for David? As far as I know Richard Petty's situation is stable, and either Ricky or Trevor will figure into the Wood Brothers' limited program.

"So I don't really see anybody that's under my direct influence, with regard to building cars for [Ragan], where we'd have something for David. I know David's talking to a number of people and he's commented publicly, though not to me, that he would be in a Cup car next year and he expected to be in the Daytona 500." NASCAR.com