David Ragan To Race For Canadian Nationwide Series Team At Daytona

Unadilla's David Ragan will take the wheel of the No. 27 Ford for GC Motorsports International - formerly Go Canada Racing - in the NASCAR Nationwide Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway on February 25.

It of course will be Ragan's first start in a points-paying race at Daytona since he won last July's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 400-miler. He hasn't driven a Nationwide race at Daytona since July 2009 and has just one Nationwide start since the end of that season, coming last November in Texas. He has a pair of Nationwide Series victories, both coming in 2009 at Talladega and Bristol. In six starts at Daytona in NASCAR's second-tier division, he has one eighth-place finish and three ninths.

The GCMI team debuted last April in Nashville with Canadian J.R. Fitzpatrick behind the wheel. Fellow Canadian Andrew Ranger and American J.J. Yeley also drove races for the team. Fitzpatrick scored a pair of top-10 finishes, including a fifth in Montreal. Ranger, a two-time champion of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, will pilot the car in several Nationwide races this season while chasing a third title north of the border.

Georgian NASCAR fans wanting to see Ragan and the rest of the NASCAR Nationwide Series teams and drivers in action can tune in to ESPN at 1 p.m. on February 25.

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