Mark Martin was shocked that NASCAR pulled David Ragan’s entry for this weekend’s Bass Pro Shops 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“I was more than surprised,” Martin said Friday morning at AMS. “I don’t know the word to use – shocked or dumbfounded – disbelief. I actually did not believe it.”

Even though Martin will be moving on to MB2 Motorpsorts/Ginn Racing in 2007, he still sticks behind Jack Roush’s decision to put Ragan in his old ride.

“I’m a huge fan of Ragan and he is also a strong young man and this will make him stronger and it will make him better. I think he’s gonna be one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR and he’s gonna do an incredible job in the No. 6 car.”

Tony Stewart, who was one of the drivers that criticized Ragan’s driving, last week at Martinsville, will now be forced to meet Ragan this weekend.

Ragan bid $5,750 during Thursday night’s Speedway Children’s Charities auction to buy the pre-race ride around the track with Stewart.

“Tony, he criticized me a lot after last week, and when a champion does that, it’s good to go talk to him,” said Ragan, who will use this opportunity to talk to the two-time NEXTEL Cup champion. “I think I’ll ask him his thoughts, what I should have done different, just introduce myself so that if I step out of line in the future he’ll come and talk to me about it.”