Being a race car driver is a physically demanding job where one driver often wears many hats. Almost every professional race car driver participates in multiple events within motorsports, and there is a dazzling array of diversity between different racing leagues. A NASCAR racer is worlds away different from a Grand Am vehicle.
This past weekend two Ford NASCAR drivers did double duty, racing their NASCAR stock cars and making their Grand Am debut. Motorsports.com reports that David Ragan and Ricky Stenhouse Junior, raced their NASCAR Fusions one day and their Grand Am mustangs the next.
David Ragan races #6 Ford Fusion for Roush-Fenway, and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. also races a #6 Ford Fusion in the Nationwide series. But the two came together and left their Car of Tomorrows behind for some Grand Am-spec Mustangs. Unlike their NASCAR rides, the Grand Am vehicles are actually based on production car bodies.
They shared driving duties behind the wheel of the No. 11 TPN/Blackforest Racing Ford Mustang, and managed to finish in 12th place. Respectable, though being competitive racers, they certainly were hoping for better. Given that they had a lot of very different racing to do this past weekend though, we think their racing debut was pretty damn good, and still leaves plenty of room for improvement. Unfortunately, Ragan was involved in a nasty crash on the last lap of the Sprint Cup race. Stenhouse’s luck was only a little better, going into Watkins Glen the points leader but finishing 15th place on the day, though he isn’t out of the running yet.