David Ragan's arrangement with Joe Gibbs Racing was aided by a tenuous full-time status at Front Row Motorsports.
Ragan, who is filling in for Kyle Busch in the No. 18 car in the near-term, said it was "iffy" if he'd be able to run the full season in the No. 34 car.
"Our situation at Front Row this year was a little iffy on whether we were going to be able to run the entire schedule," Ragan said. "We had some good sponsorship with some of our partners – CSX and KFC for the Daytona 500. I got a call from one of the management at Joe Gibbs Racing on Monday afternoon and they just asked if I had any interest in talking to them. They had heard that I wasn't committed or didn't have a firm commitment for the full, entire Sprint Cup season. I told them that I would have some interest if we could get all the parties to mutually agree on a package that would benefit us all."
A winner at Talladega in 2013, Ragan has run the full season in all three of his seasons with the team after moving over from Roush Fenway Racing. However, the team re-expanded to three full-time cars in 2015 with the addition of Cole Whitt. Whitt also brought sponsorship to the team and he had the owner's points from the No. 34 car for the Daytona 500. Ragan was forced to qualify on speed.
He said Thursday that he didn't know how long he'd be filling in for Busch, who is sidelined with a broken right leg and a broken left foot after his crash on Saturday.
"I think as a driver you just have to take it week by week and race by race," Ragan said. "As far as the length of time that Kyle will be out, I don't think anyone really knows that yet. That's probably a good question for the Gibbs folks. I know for the next several weeks, I'll be in the 18 car. I don't know that we really have a hard time frame on it just yet."
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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