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closeRagan edges Ambrose to win Busch rookie title
The Associated Press
Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2007
David Ragan gave car owner Jack Roush his third straight rookie title and fourth since 2001 in the NASCAR Busch Series.
Ragan beat out Australian Marcos Ambrose by just 27 points to join Roush drivers Danny O’Quinn Jr. (2006), Carl Edwards (2005) and Greg Biffle (2001) in taking rookie honors in the developmental series.
Ragan finished the Busch season with two poles, four top-five and nine top-10 finishes, including a career-best third-place run at Memphis. He finished fifth in the series standings while also racing full-time in Nextel Cup, where he was 23rd overall for what is now Roush Fenway Racing.
Ambrose wound up eighth in the Busch points, becoming the first non-North American driver to finish in the top 10 in any of NASCAR’s three national championship divisions. The last non-United States driver to achieve the feat was Canadian Earl Ross, who finished eighth in the Cup standings in 1974. Ragan also finished second, 24 points behind Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia in the rookie standings in Cup. In the Craftsman Truck Series, the top rookie was Willie Allen, who finished just eight points ahead of Tim Sauter. Allen’s best finish was a sixth at Talladega. He finished the season 15th in the standings, best of any Raybestos rookie.
